Frances Lawrence returned to her hometown of Swansea with PLAnet youth ambassador for Wales Ben Sawyers to encourage awards nominations for groups young people who make a difference in their communities.

They are pictured above with young people and project workers from city centre youth project Info-Nation, where they were impressed both by the energy, creativity and warmth they found. All over Wales are groups of young people making a difference and getting involved in their communities, and the Philip Lawrence Awards were set up to help shine a light on their positive contributions and counter negative stereotypes of young people.

Ben was an award winner in 2009 with his group Neath Port Talbot Youth Council. He is a great role model for the awards, and is keen to make sure more young people benefit. Now chair of the youth council, he says of winning the award:

We already felt we had been recognised within our council, but to get national recognition was brilliant. It’s a great scheme, but not many people know about it. I hope more young people from Wales apply this year – though time is running out.

The Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Keith Towler, was also hoping to see Welsh success in this year’s awards. He said,

We know that celebrating and acknowledging children and young people’s achievements and contributions play a key part in raising their aspirations. The Philip Lawrence Awards Network celebrates the positive contributions young people make in their communities – something which I witness on a daily basis. I sincerely hope we’ll see a Welsh winner this year!

Wherever you are in the UK, if you’d like to nominate a group of young people for this year’s awards, you have just a couple of days to do so before the closing date on Friday. Fill in the simple online nomination form, or download a form to complete and return by post or email. You can read more about the awards here.

Read an article about their visit in the South Wales Evening Post.