Stories of courage, commitment and talent thrilled the audience at the 30th annual Yorkshire Young Achievers Awards, sponsored by McCormicks Solicitors, last night..
Young people from as young as five were recognised in front of a crowd of 400 people at Leeds United’s Centenary Pavilion.
There was a standing ovation for the children of the late Rugby League legend Rob Burrow, when they won the Unsung Hero award, while other winners included Yorkshire’s Olympic and Paralympic medallists and a young actor with a part in a Hollywood film. One winner recently broke a record while another marked the 30th anniversary of her own first Award at the event by receiving another.
The night opened with a performance by a previous winner, singer Lizzie Jones MBE, and there were plenty of other winners from over the years attending to support this year’s stars.
The Awards mark the achievements of young people in seven categories, from the Arts to Sport. Organised by the Yorkshire Young Achievers Foundation, the annual event has now raised more than £1.5m to support young people in Yorkshire. An eighth Award is made to a Foundation supporter.
Chairman of the Awards Peter McCormick OBE said:
It was a very special year for us as we marked a major milestone and it was a joy not only to hear the stories of the winners this year but to see so many other winners from the past and catch up.
None of this would be possible without the support of our sponsors and our guests, many of whom have been with us almost since the beginning, and I am very proud that with their help, we were able to continue our grants programme which helps young people across Yorkshire to reach their full potential.
The full line up of winners was:
Personalities of the Year, sponsored by Rudding Park
Yorkshire’s Olympic and Paralympic medallists at the 2024 Paris games
Yorkshire’s Olympic and Paralympic teams had a total of 22 young medallists who won 25 medals, comprising seven golds, one of them a double, five silvers and 13 bronzes. Their total haul was more than 13 per cent of Great Britain’s medals.
The medals covered 12 different disciplines, each requiring very different skills, from dressage to judo and from rowing to wheelchair basketball.
Four of the medallists were on hand to receive their Awards in person, namely:
Hannah Cockroft who won two golds with her performances in the 100m T34 wheelchair race and the 800m in the same discipline. These brought Hannah’s gold medals to a total of nine across four Paralympic games.
Anthony Harding who won bronze in the synchronised 3m diving.
Yasmin Harper who won bronze in the 3m synchronised 3m springboard diving.
Charlie Tanfield who won silver in the cycling team pursuit.
Unsung Heroes, sponsored by Jamboree Entertainment
Macy Burrow, aged 12, Maya Burrow, aged nine, and Jackson Burrow, aged five, of Pontefract
The Burrow children have been a huge support to their mum, Lindsey, over the last five years, for much of the time in the public spotlight and have shown an immense amount of courage and resilience throughout.
Their journey began when their dad, Rugby League legend Rob, was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and since then they have been involved in supporting him until he passed away in June as well as in awareness and fundraising activity for research into MND.
They are too young to remember but Rob was also a winner at these Awards in 2001 when he won the Achievement in Sport title.
Peter McCormick said:
The Judges felt it was appropriate to recognise these three children who have been through so much and still been able to support others in the family and the wider community.
The children’s resilience is illustrated by the way they have continued to get on with their own lives. The girls both have an interest in performing: Macy has appeared in the panto at Wakefield Theatre Royal twice while Maya has been on tour with Opera North. Jackson has a keen interest in football.
Mum Lindsey said: “They have shown incredible resilience and courage like their dad. They have kept me going with their big smiles when they wake up every morning and I am very proud of them and that they have been recognised.”
Achievement in Sport, sponsored by Leeds United Football Club
Joe Root of Sheffield
In October on the third day of the first Test of the series against Pakistan at Multan, Joe overtook Sir Alastair Cook as England’s highest Test run-scorer of all time, moving into fifth place on the list of highest run-scorers in Test history. This was part of his highest Test score to date of 262, his sixth double-century, and in the same innings he shared an England record stand of 454 with Harry Brook.
He is currently ranked the World’s number 1 Test batsman by the International Cricket Council.
He was unable to receive his Award in person because he is in New Zealand preparing for the Test Match series there which starts in a weeks’ time.
Joe has captained both Yorkshire and England, the latter in a record 64 tests, and has now played in more than 140 tests for his country.
Youngster of the Year, sponsored by Nabarro McAllister
Jacob Newson, aged 11, of Methley
Jacob has raised more than £100,000 for charity over the last few years.
He has been fascinated by all things aeronautical since he was a little boy and when he was just six, this led to the beginning of a series of fundraising efforts for the RAF Benevolent Fund.
An X post following a visit to the Royal International Air Tattoo, showing Jacob saluting all the pilots but receiving little reciprocation, went viral and went on to lead to him developing an excellent relationship with the air force, and being able to enjoy all sorts of exciting RAF-related events.
He raised tens of thousands of pounds with his fundraising efforts, including a 35-mile walk along the Kent coast to mark the anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
But, in 2020, his fundraising focus expanded after he lost his mum, Andrea, to cancer. Andrea had been cared for by St Gemma’s Hospice in Leeds and since then Jacob has taken on a series of epic challenges to raise funds for the hospice, starting with the Yorkshire Three Peaks before climbing Mount Toubkal in Morocco, the highest peak in North Africa, last year. He has kept his RAF connections alive with a walk through Belgium to Dunkirk to mark the escape route of a pilot, 82 years to the day after he was shot down. This year he also marked the 80th anniversary of the Great Escape by using the route across the Pyrenees from France to Spain used by many servicemen escaping France during the war.
Achievement in the Arts, sponsored by Mary and Jeremy Carter
Rocco Haynes, aged ten, of Leeds
Young actor Rocco Haynes started acting at the tender age of three and his breakout role was the “hero child” in the Co-op’s “Round Our Way” Christmas commercial, busking with his real-life older brother.
His first cast role was Billy Hardcastle in the acclaimed drama “Gentleman Jack” and since then he has appeared in a number of well-known TV productions, including “Wolfe”, “The A Word”, “All Creatures Great and Small” and “Emmerdale”.
His latest films include “the Railway Children Return”, filming with Sheridan Smith and Jenny Agutter, “Starve Acre” with Matt Smith and “Giant”, alongside Pierce Brosnan and again appearing with his older brother.
He was recently chosen by an Oscar-winning director for a role in a Hollywood movie due to be released next year.
Rocco’s older brother, Austin, took the Achievement in the Arts Award a couple of years ago.
Achievement in Management and Enterprise, sponsored by CHR Estates
Rachel Woolford of Leeds
Rachel’s business skills came firmly under the spotlight earlier this year when she won the BBC’s The Apprentice, where candidate compete for a £250,000 investment from Lord Alan Sugar.
Rachel grew up in Leeds, attending Leeds Grammar School, before university in Newcastle where her passion for fitness really started to blossom.
After graduating she initially took on a job in the financial sector but her desire to work in the fitness sector meant that she did not stay long, leaving to work as a personal trainer and fitness instructor.
During this time, she began to develop plans for her own boutique gym business, based on models she had seen in London and the USA. She opened her first Studio North venue just off Street Lane in Roundhay, in 2020, only to have to close for six months because of the Covid pandemic.
She has since opened a second gym in Harrogate and a third venue is now on the horizon.
Achievement in Education, sponsored by Harrogate Town
Kirstie Dunbar of Harrogate
Kirstie has succeeded in making the most of the opportunities offered to her by her specialist college to become increasingly independent.
She has Pathological Demand Avoidance, a condition on the autism spectrum, which makes it very difficult for her to handle some of the challenges of daily life and social situations, meaning she struggles with direct demands placed on her.
However, the team at Henshaws Specialist College in Harrogate have been amazed by her huge progress since she joined them as a boarder two years ago and are delighted that she is now flourishing.
Described as “chatty and full of humour”, she has learnt to recognise and understand the support she needs, where to find it and how to access it.
As well as a full college timetable, including swimming, PE and the arts, she loves being active and is engaged in off-campus work experience at an environmental charity in York.
Kirstie has also improved her social skills immensely, building strong relationships with her peers. She also loves singing, this year taking part in the Makaton choir which performed in front of around 100 people at the college’s graduation and prom event.
The Martin Gerrard Award, sponsored by GMI Property
Professor Adeeba Malik CBE, of Bradford.
Adeeba Malik’s first experience of the Yorkshire Young Achievers Awards was when she won the very first Achievement in Education Award 30 years ago!
Born to Pakistani parents, she began work as a teacher, working in Bradford and Hull, and for the past 32 years has been involved with the QED Foundation, which works to “improve the social and economic position of disadvantaged communities” and of which she is now Deputy Chief Executive.
She was awarded an MBE in 2004 for her work with ethnic minorities and businesses and a CBE in 2015 for services to community cohesion.
She has held many ministerial and non-ministerial appointments on national boards including the Women and Work Commission and British Waterways. She has also chaired the National Ethnic Minority Business Forum and has served on the Advisory Board on Naturalisation and Immigration, the National Clinical Assessment Authority, Race Disparity Advisory Group in the Cabinet Office and the Green Deal Women’s Panel for DEFRA.
She has been a board member at Regional Development Agency Yorkshire Forward, Governor of Sheffield Hallam University and director of Northern Ballet.
Currently, she is on the board of The Race Advisory Group at the Home Office, she is a board member and trustee of the Bradford 2025 City of Culture Company and a member of an Honours Committee at the Cabinet Office. She is a Deputy Lieutenant for West Yorkshire.
She made history when she became the first ethnic minority female to be declared High Sheriff for West Yorkshire in March this year.
She was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Bradford this year.
The Martin Gerrard Award was formerly known as the Special Award and was made to someone of any age who had made a big contribution to the Yorkshire Young Achievers Foundation. Its name was changed this year following the sad death of Martin Gerrard who was the Foundation’s Treasurer.
