Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Find out who won the STAR Awards 2008!
At this year’s conference three of the most fantastic STAR volunteers were given awards for their work. Find out who won…
What are the STAR Awards?
The STAR awards were launched earlier this year in order to celebrate the exceptional efforts of STAR volunteers in supporting refugees. There were three categories for the awards: practical support for refugees, promoting awareness of refugee issues and campaigning.
The three winners of the STAR awards were announced at the STAR AGM at STAR’s national conference on 16th November 2008. They will all receive £100 towards their STAR groups projects plus personal prizes for themselves, which include London eye tickets, Jongleurs Comedy club tickets and Playstation goodies!
STAR trustees judged the awards; they said that it was amazing to read about all the fantastic achievements and the outstanding commitment of STAR volunteers!
And the winners are…
Practical support for refugees: Christopher Hands, St George’s STAR
Chris won the STAR award for his passion and commitment towards providing practical support for refugees. Chris started volunteering for STAR in 2004 and has been running and developing the projects since 2005. Under his “visionary” leadership St George’s STAR has quadrupled the number of young people they reach!
Chris is highly motivated and committed to supporting refugee and asylum seeking young people, combating their social isolation, increasing their life chances and aiding integration. He achieves this through enthusiasm and hard work, usually spending 30 – 40 hours per week voluntarily running STAR on top of being a full time clinical medical student.
Chris is also a mentor in St George’s mentoring scheme. His 14 year-old mentee memorably said of him, “there’s nothin bad about him, innit”.
Promoting awareness of refugee issues: Jenny Allsopp, Oxford STAR
Jenny took the award for promoting awareness of refugee issues because of her efforts in organising Oxford STAR’s sleepout in March 2008.
Jenny was the main STAR person behind the Oxford Sleepout in March with 125 sleeping out! She organised a very successful sleep-out, secured food donations from businesses and generated a lot of media coverage.
“Jenny’s enthusiasm and commitment to the Sleepout (and all her contributions to STAR) have rarely been surpassed.”
Campaigning: Dannie Grufferty, Liverpool STAR
Dannie earned her award through a mixture of organisational skill and a motivation to speak up for refugees in the UK.
Dannie was involved in organising a charity gig, the Asylum Monologues play, the Liverpool Still Human Still Here sleepout and a demonstration outside Liverpool city centre. She was the student who stepped forward to speak to the press about the demonstration.
She also took the initiative to introduce the Asylum Monologues play and explained to a big crowd of students a little more about the issues at hand and why they’re important.
Dannie is “always prepared to stand up and speak out for the rights of refugees”.
Congratulations!
Well done to all the award winners! And to all those who were nominated! And to all STAR volunteers for all the hard work you put in to improve the lives of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.
Posted by STAR team on 25/11/2008 at 03:15 PM
