Thank You Letter Awards

On Wednesday 12th July, the Jubilee Awards 2017 were held at the House of Lords to celebrate the winners of the Thank You Letter Awards and the Why Character Matters writing contest. Winners were joined by their families at the event, which was hosted by Lord James O’Shaughnessy.  This year, over 70,000 young people took part in the Thank You Letter Awards, which invited young people between the ages of 5 and 16 to write a letter thanking someone or something in their lives that they are grateful for. Fifteen winners from the Thank You Letters Awards were presented with their awards by Lord James O’Shaughnessy The Jubilee Awards winners are listed below: Thank You Letter Awards Winners Yusuf Zaman – Year 1,  Penns Primary School, Sutton Coldfield Mashal Solayman , Year 4, Beech Hill Primary School, Newcastle Ranita Ariyibi – Year 4,  Broadford Primary School, Essex Niroop Singh Nazran – Year 5, Nishkam Primary School, Birmingham Ryan Claxton – Year 6, St Faiths Primary School, Norwich Jayda Ogwulu Chriscasimir – Year 7, Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls Emily Piper – Year 7, Hall Mead School, Essex Thomas Visaya-Neville – Year 6, St Columba’s College, St Albans Oran Lynch – Year 7, Broughton High School, Edinburgh Yedam Kim – Year 7, University of Birmingham School, Birmingham Mia Lewis – Year 7, Bishop Gore School, Swansea Kimmy Shopland – Year 7, Lydiard Park Academy, Swindon Evan Brewin – Year 8, Woking High School, Woking Kane Whitehouse –  Year 9, Ninestiles Academy School, Birmingham Pete Miller – Year 11, Langley School, Solihull

The Thank You Letter Awards provide young people with the opportunity to write a ‘thank you’ letter to someone that they are grateful to, who has inspired them, supported or helped them. The winners were announced at the Thank You Letter Awards ceremony, held on 11th May 2016 at the University of Birmingham, and were presented with their awards at the Jubilee Youth Awards at the House of Lords on 14th July 2016. In 2016, over 40,000 young people from over 200 schools across the UK ( and internationally) took part in the 2016 Thank You Letter Awards to write to a wide variety of people, from inspirational people, to teachers, to parents and charities. Schools held internal competitions and then sent the winning letters to be entered into the national competition. Young people who had written shortlisted letters were invited to an awards ceremony at the University of Birmingham in May 11th, where Charlotte Hill, CEO of Step Up To Serve, presented the awards and spoke about who in her life she is particularly grateful to and why.     The finalists, runners-up and winners from both primary and secondary categories are listed below. Photographs of Adaeze Ordu (Primary Winner) and Peace Buraimo (Secondary Winner) receiving their awards at the House of Lords with Sir Nick Parker and Lord James O’Shaughnessy are below.

     

Winners and Runners-Up

Primary

Winner:

Adaeze Ordu, St Teresa Catholic Primary School, Birmingham

Runners-Up:

Charmaine, St Mary’s and St John’s C of E Primary School, London Lyla Perkins, Harborne Primary School, Birmingham

Secondary

Winner:

Peace Buraimo, King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girl, Birmingham

Runners-Up:

Vlad Gabriel, Thistley Hough Academy, Stoke-on-Trent Kajol Korotania, Nishkam High School, Birmingham

Finalists

Primary: Florence UnderwoodHarborne Primary School, Birmingham Edie Davies, Hook Lane Primary School, Kent Chloe Pike, Hook Lane Primary School, Kent Inigo Duffield, Windlesham School, West Sussex Rashida Sillah, Broadford Primary School, Essex

Secondary: Alfie Stewart, Hall Mead School,Upminster Tessa Yau, Albyn School, Aberdeen Robert Shaw, Albyn School, Aberdeen Lydia Matterson, The Academy at Shotton Hall,County Durham

Santi Campo Arbolés, Arbolés Viaró Global School, Spain

The Thank You Letter Awards provide young people with the opportunity to write a ‘thank you’ letter to someone that they are grateful to, who has inspired them, supported or helped them. In 2015, 20,000 young people from over 100 schools across the UK took part in the awards and wrote letters to a wide variety of people, from parents and grandparents, to charities, teachers and athletes. Schools held internal competitions and then sent the winning letters to be entered into the national competition. Young people who had written shortlisted letters were invited to an awards ceremony at the University of Birmingham in March, where Olympic Gold Medallist Greg Rutherford MBE talked about who he’s grateful to, before presenting the winners with their prizes.     Details of the 2016 Thank You Letter Awards will appear here in due course. See our Media Centre for more photos from the 2015 Awards. Details of the 2015 winners can be found below:

Primary

Winner:

Joshua Jamison, Little Sutton Primary School

Runners-Up:

Abigail Richardson, Oasis Academy Short Heath

Mary Henderson, Oliver House Prep School

Secondary Winner:

Shola Daley, City of Birmingham School

Runners-Up:

Hannah Gidman, Castle Rock High School

Alex Frost King, Edward VI Five Ways School

  To find out more about how to get your school or organisation involved in the Thank You Letter Awards 2016, please contact Vicci at v.j.hogan@bham.ac.uk or on 0121 414 4846.