Delegates from the 2013 Young England and Wales Programme
Kathryn wins
England and Wales
Young Thinker title
Kathryn Asplin, of the National Physical Laboratory, carried off the England and Wales Young Thinker of the Year 2013 title in Lancaster in May. Having won the public sector category, she went on to win the overall title with "a serious paper [on climate change], delivered without notes, and with perfectly judged humour". The adjudicators commented "the whole audience listened with real interest from start to finish. Excellent material with adeptly chosen moments for introducing new key factors...authoritative, enjoyable, informative".
The local authorities category was won by Jo Howlett of St Albans City and District Council and Gabrielle Kirby of the Institution of Structural Engineers won the professional and educational section. Best On the Spot was delivered by Joshua Penney, Manchester City Council, and Best Who I Am...was won by Drew Oram of the Environment Agency.
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Delegates from a previous event pose in front of one of the world-famous bridges
International Young
Scotland Programme:
June 2013
The majestic bridges across the River Forth, near Edinburgh, will be the spectacular backcloth to a new event, the International Young Scotland Programme. Thirty-one delegates – all born in one of 19 different countries across the world but now living in Scotland – will take part.
The aim of the programme is to recognise the important contribution being made by people from overseas to Scotland's increasingly multi-cultural society.
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Forthcoming Events
The 2013 Young Scotland, Young Ireland, and Young Northern Ireland Programmes will be held in North Queensferry, Fife, week beginning 21 October.
Details to follow.
Triumph for Leeds City Council
at
Young Local Authority
of the Year 2013
Leeds City Council, represented by Sam Facer and Clare Poolman, won the eighth Young Local Authority of the Year competition at Lancaster from a high quality field of 29 teams. The adjudicators described the winning paper as 'hugely ambitious, advocating complexity theory as a way of solving the problems faced by local authorities in the current economic climate'. They said there was a great deal to admire in the fluency of the writing. Sam and Clare were praised as an exceptionally good partnership 'who made challenging ideas accessible'.
The runners-up were Aberdeenshire Council (Team 3: Lauren Cowie and Jodie Dunz) for a 'subtle argument', backed by confident use of language, on the safeguarding of vulnerable children.
Highly Commended in third place were Wiltshire County Council (Team 1: Emily Kavanagh and Sofie Nottingham) for 'a rallying cry to local government officers to stand up and defend the work of local councils'. The Royal Borough of Greenwich, represented by Helen Alderton and Kristina Smith, were commended for a 'quirky' paper on the proliferation of betting shops in our most deprived communities.
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