On Thursday 2nd February the High Sheriff announced the winners of his Young Citizen of the Year awards at Lancashire Constabulary HQ. Over 60 young people were at the ceremony accompanied by their families, friends and teachers, all collecting certificates from the High Sheriff, Mr James Armfield OBE DL, The Chief Constable, Mr Steve Finnigan and Eddy Morris from National Grid who sponsored the event.

The exceptional entries made the judging a very difficult task but the winners were revealed as follows:

WINNER - Laura Seymour aged 16 from Morecambe

Laura has been heavily involved in school and neighbourhood issues for a number of years. She is heavily involved in pupil mentoring and in March 2005 Laura compeered a ‘Stars in their Eyes’ and fashion show event held at the school which resulted in a lot of money being raised and donated to the Tsunami Appeal.

Laura voluntarily attends not only the weekly sessions of the Young Persons Crime Prevention Panel, but at other times, weekends and after school, giving up her spare time to help organise and work on crime prevention activities.

She is an ambassador for young people and members of the Panel who had previously strayed from towing the line are now back on track and with the help of Laura and other young people like her will be signposted into positive activities, helping their own neighbourhoods.

Laura was nominated by PC Kath Bromilow who describes her as 'a pure angel and a perfect Young Citizen of the Year'.

RUNNER UP - Sarah Dean aged 17 from Wesham

Nominated by Claire Foster, Sarah is currently involved with 3 main volunteering projects. The Sunday Club on Tuesdays is a group that is run for disabled young people; the 2nd Wesham Brownies and Fylde Youth Council of which Sarah is the Vice Chair.

Sarah has been involved with various projects including issues surrounding young people, environmental issues, children’s rights and caring for the neighbourhood with Age Concern to name but a few. She has also been involved with the ‘Youth Charter’ campaigns to get young peoples views heard in a positive light.

THIRD PLACE - Nathan Fowler Age 22 from Blackpool

Nathan volunteers in many various projects; from helping out at Tommy’s, a community breakfast bar for local people on a Saturday morning to a community garden project where he goes on most Tuesdays to ensure that the garden is kept tidy and looked after for the elderly residents.

Nathan was also nominated by Claire Foster and he sits on the Youth Leaders Forum, which is for voluntary youth leaders and other voluntary groups, where they can meet up to share ideas and discuss up and coming events that groups could be interested in. All in all Nathan is an inspiration and positive role model to all young people and is recognised in his own community as this.

Winners of the 2004 competition.