30/05/23

The first Child Friendly Cardiff Awards will take place this July to celebrate and recognise children, young people and organisations that have championed children's rights in their community, every-day life and workplace.

Organised by Child Friendly Cardiff, members of the public can nominate people and organisations before Monday 12^thJune, with the winners being notified by Monday 3^rdJuly and the winners being presented with their award at a ‘Rights Fest' event on Tuesday 11^thJuly at Cardiff City Stadium.

Child Friendly Cardiff has been supporting the Council in embedding children's rights into its policies and strategies,and delivering projects aimed at upholding rights and celebrating children and young peoplesince the launch of the Child Friendly Cardiff Strategy in 2018, which set out the ambition to be recognised as a Child Friendly City. This has led to numerous schools officially putting child rights into practice, and a host of programmes with partners providing positive experiences and activities to support mental health and encourage learning and development.

Nominations for the awards can be made for multiple categories, but the nominee can win a maximum of one award. The categories are:

• Young Achiever of the Year
• Junior Young Achiever of the Year
• Child Friendly Cardiff Partner of the Year
• Junior Community Champion of the Year
• Rights and Social Action Project of the Year
• Arts, Culture and Digital Media Award of the Year

Cardiff Council's Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Education, Employment and Skills, Cllr Sarah Merry, said: "Through joint efforts across all Council departments, public services and partnerships across the city region, we have made significant progress in not only embedding children's rights into what we do, but also in supporting young people as they grow and celebrate their success.

"We are committed to becoming a UNICEF UK Child Friendly City and so it's crucial that we recognise the hard work and effort that goes into this and celebrate the people who are making an impact in helping us achieve this goal.

"Thisaward ceremonysupports Cardiff's ambition of being internationally recognised as one of the UK's first UNICEF UK Child Friendly Cities, a global programme collaborating UNICEF with local government to put children's rights first."

The Chair of the Children and Young People's Advisory BoardShifa, aged 17 said: "As Chair of the Child Friendly City Advisory Board I am pleased to see an initiative that celebrates the contributions made by children and young people in Cardiff and the support available to them".

#ChildFriendlyCDF #EduCardiff

To find out more about the Child Friendly Cardiff Award and cast your vote by 12^thJune, please visit:https://www.childfriendlycardiff.co.uk/the-child-friendly-cardiff-awards-2022-2023/