Against all the odds with the pandemic running much of our lives Rotary revived their “Young Citizen of the Year” this year after a one year break. An early decision was made to extend the scope from 13-19 age range to 13-25 and to divide the entries into two groups 13-18 and 18-25. This resulted in a total of 44 entries being received from young people who live, work or are in full time education in The City of Wolverhampton.

A sifting process reduced the 44 entries to 9 with five being considered for the lower age group award and 4 for the upper age group.   These 9 entries were considered by a panel of 5 judges and the winners were presented with their awards at a Presentation Ceremony in the Wolverhampton Mayoral Suite early in September. Chairman of the Judges, Peter Madeley, introduced all nine nominees and outlined what they had done to be considered for the award.

The winner in the lower age group was Dylan Wright of Pendeford who has a flair for performing and has raised funds for Compton Hospice and helps out in a Barnardos Charity Shop and during lockdown produced videos for his school to commemorate “Captain Sir Tom”. In addition during lockdown he moved in with his grandmother to care for her including cooking gourmet meals.

The Upper age group was much harder and the judges were unable to separate two nominees so it was decided to make two awards.   Lucy Palin delayed qualifying for a degree in order to promote “Project GIVE” a charity which she formed in 2018 to promote awareness of what some consider to be the Taboo subject of female health issues. She sources funding for female sanitary products and distributes them around Wolverhampton and the Black Country. She also conducts education sessions via social media. During the pandemic alone she estimates that she has assisted 10000 young people.

The second award in the Upper Age group went to Parwiz Karimi. Parwiz came to UK early in 2012 from Afghanistan to join his parents and escape the troubles there, unable to speak a word of English. By 2015 he had recognised a gap between Afgham communities and the rest of UK Society. He founded The Afghan Youth Association, based in Wolverhampton and it has raised funds to pay for the education of young Afghan women to enable them to go to University. He obtained an engineering degree from Leeds University and is just starting a “Masters” at Warwick.   He has joined the British Army as a reservist as a way of trying to give back to the country which has given him an opportunity he would not have had back in Afghanistan.

Each Winner received a Plaque, a cheque for £100.00 and a further £100.00 for the “Good Cause” of their choice.

In summing up the evening The Mayor of Wolverhampton, Councillor Greg Brackenridge, congratulated all nominees saying that they were all winners having firstly been nominated by a peer and then having graduated to the final group and wished them continued success in whatever they chose to do in life.

The organisers are very grateful to their partners in running the Award, Wolverhampton City Council, Express & Star, The Way Youth Zone, Wolverhampton Wanderers Foundation, Wolverhampton West Magazine, Wednesfield & Bilston Magazines, Carvers Building Supplies Ltd and The James Beattie  Charitable Trust.