Child of Wales Winner of Child of Courage Award (over 13). Sponsored by Redikite.
Abi Phillips a brave and beautiful and an inspiration to many young girls. What a star she is! We are looking forward to celebrating with Abi and her family January 2022 at The Child of Wales Awards at Celtic Manor.
McKenzie is a brave, bubbly, clever, funny, boy who inspires us all at the Child of Wales Awards. He is the winner of the Child of Courage Award under 13 years old Sponsored by 1192 Laser and Beauty Clinic. This is his incredible story.
Every month, starting on Thursday 4th March we will be revealing the winners of each of the 12 categories for the inaugural Child of Wales Awards.
Please watch this short video for more information.
Dear Guests and Friends of The Child of Wales Awards,
After reviewing and taking some advice about the upcoming celebration of the Child of Wales Awards, It is with a heavy heart I write to tell you that due to the situation with the COVID virus we must postpone our event again on April 9th 2021. It really is sad as I know how much you, our winners, families and friends have been very much looking forward to celebrating.
With many events being cancelled this year despite the good news of the vaccine, it would seem sensible to move the event to 2022, the welfare of our guests and winners must come first. We have secured a date of January 21st 2022 at Celtic Manor and then we should be in a better position to enjoy the evening, hopefully without the worries of social distancing and mask wearing.
I have explored having a virtual event this year. However, feedback was overwhelming against this idea as many attendees are looking forward to getting dressed up for a night to remember celebrating with their families, colleagues and friends at Celtic Manor. A night to look forward to, in the diary, when everyone is able to meet again. We have some very special guests attending too, including famous sports personalities, and celebrities. We also have some wonderful video tributes to be played.
I wanted to also take this opportunity to thank you for your patience and understanding. How do we even begin to summarise the last 12 months? Words like “odd” “strange” and “unprecedented” feel entirely worn out by this point. But while the last year’s been unpredictable – we’ve been moved by your unwavering support.
Despite all that has happened we have had some highlights in 2020 with some of the children and young people attending the reception at Downing Street with families and also the fact we were able to donate some funds to our chosen charities NSPCC, Dreams and Wishes and Teenage Cancer Trust.
We will have our event and let us hope that in a year’s time there will be a better world – a world of optimism, stability, happiness, laughter and kindness – all the ingredients so appropriate to The Child of Wales Awards.
I would be very grateful for any feedback you may have.
Stay Safe
With Love
Blanche
It’s great for us to be able to tell you about the congratulations that have poured in from celebrities including Catherine Zeta Jones and Luke Evans, as well as from many businesses, for all of the winners of our Child of Wales Awards 2020.
There are twelve categories of awards which recognise inspiring young people and organisations whom have demonstrated remarkable courage and achievements.
Our winners would normally be unveiled at a star-studded awards ceremony at the Celtic Manor. The event, originally scheduled for April, has twice been postponed due to COVID-19. We now hope to run the event in April 2021, but we did not want to keep the children waiting any longer to celebrate their achievement.
The event had been rescheduled to take place on Friday, October 30. So, we’ve encouraged everyone who should have been attending, including celebrities, sponsors and supporters following the awards, to raise a glass to acknowledge the achievements of the winners.
The families and young people will all be treated to a holiday at Bluestone National Park Resort with their families when they are able to visit and will be attending a rearranged gala awards evening now taking place on April 9, 2021 (COVID-19 permitting).
You can find out more about our winners, with a brief on why they won, here.
We’ve also released a video introducing the winners and showcasing their stories, which can be viewed below.
We want to thank our sponsors, once again, for their continued support, which has allowed us to make a substantial donation to our three charities, despite the event being delayed.
We’ve already donated £5,000 to each of the charities in recognition of the challenging times they are enduring as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. In case you’ve forgotten, our charities are: Teenage Cancer Trust, Dreams & Wishes and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).
Blanche Sainsbury, our founder, said:
“The past six months, we have been forced to cancel our showcase event twice, it has been very frustrating for many reasons. But one of the biggest has been that we have been unable to unveil the finalists and tell their wonderful stories.
“When it became clear that the event would again be cancelled, we took the decision that we could wait no longer to showcase the incredible stories of the young people we have been working with and who deserve recognition. So, we are doing just that and revealing them as our winners.
“It is still very much our intention that they have their moment in the spotlight; our winners deserve that and we also want to showcase the work of our charities, while hopefully raising even more money for them, and thank our sponsors who have shown incredible patience and supported us through thick and thin. And I promise that, when it does go ahead, the long wait will be worth it. The evening will be amazing. We intend to finally deliver what we started and what so many people have worked so hard to make a very special event.”
The Child of Wales Awards, an event that celebrates the inspirational achievements of children across Wales, due to take place in the Celtic Manor on April 3, has been postponed because of concerns over Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Some 750 guests including a number of celebrities were due to attend the event hosted by Carol Vorderman MBE and Ian Gough. The organisers said that the difficult decision was taken in the best interests of the guests and the young award winners. A new date will be announced for the event once there is greater clarity over managing the Coronavirus.
Blanche Sainsbury, the founder of the event, said: “This was not an easy decision to take. We have been building momentum to this event for a very long time and there were many young people and their families looking forward to what was to be a very special evening.
“However, the health and wellbeing of our award winners and guests was always paramount. Given the crisis the country is facing and the uncertainty surrounding the spread of the virus and the risk it poses to some members of the population, we felt there was no real option but to postpone.
“We remain committed to delivering what will be a truly remarkable night later in the year. As things stand, we hope to be able to announce a new date by May/June with the expectation that the awards will now happen later in the year. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Celtic Manor and all the sponsors behind the awards for their support in moving the date to later in the year.”
The move coincided with an invitation to 10 Downing Street
The National Children of Wales Awards, an annual event that recognises the achievements and inspirational stories of children in Wales, has chosen St David’s Day to rebrand as the Child of Wales Awards (#iamachildofwales on twitter), a name its founders feel better represents its ethos and values.
The move also coincides with founder Blanche Sainsbury and many of the children honoured at the awards visiting 10 Downing Street to meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday February 27, who listened to their inspirational stories and praised their courage, fortitude and hard work.
The Child of Wales Awards will take place at the Celtic Manor on April 3, 2020. It will recognise the achievements and inspirational stories of children and young people in categories including Child of Courage, Young Fundraiser, Young Sporting Hero, Community Champion and Young Performer.
The event will be presented by Carol Vorderman MBE and former Wales rugby player Ian Gough. Entertainment at the prestigious event will feature male voice choir Only Men Aloud, the winners of BBC talent show Last Choir Standing; Angelicus Celtis, a choir of Welsh schoolgirls who reached the semi-final of Britain’s Got Talent in 2017; and performances from Motionhouse, a world-class dance-circus production company.
The children who will be recognised on the night were selected from more than 200 nominees. The judging panel who faced the difficult task of selecting the winners included Carol Vorderman MBE, Ian Gough, Pepe Rahman (a winner from the Pride of Britain Awards), William and Pamela McNamara (directors of Bluestone National Park Resort), and representatives from the main sponsors of the awards Trade Centre Wales, BidFood and RedKite Solicitors.
All the winners will be invited to enjoy a VIP experience with their family at Bluestone National Park Resort. The awards aim to raise £100,000 at the event, which will be distributed to four charities in Wales that help children: The Teenage Cancer Trust, Dreams & Wishes, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Bluestone Foundation.
Blanche Sainsbury, founder of the awards, said: “Ever since we first launched this event, we have been blown away by the interest that has been shown in it and the support from the business community in Wales. Being invited to meet the Prime Minister was a true honour and illustrated just how far we have come in terms of raising awareness about the event and it represented an amazing experience for all the children that attended that they will remember for the rest of their lives.
“We decided to use that event and the landmark of St David’s Day to also change the brand to the Child of Wales Awards, a name that we believe will enable us to take this event and everything it represents to the next level. Our intention is to recognise and pay tribute to the Children of Wales and we feel this event will only go from strength to strength in the future.”
Carol Vorderman said: “This truly remarkable event is now taking on a momentum of its own in terms of interest and support but, at its heart, its ethos is to celebrate the achievements, the talent and inspirational stories of the children of Wales. It’s a happy and joyous first for Wales.”
The event has already attracted remarkable support from the business community with all award categories now sponsored for the evening. The event’s two main sponsors are The Trade Centre Wales, one of the largest and fastest growing used car companies in the UK, and Bidfood, one of the largest food wholesalers in the UK.
The category sponsors are: 1192 Laser & Beauty Clinic, Acuity Law, Andrew Rees & Sons Butchers, Barclays, Bibendum Wine, DWJ Group, DWJ Wealth Management, Gower College Swansea, Iceland Foods, Joe’s Ice Cream, MGY, Mitre Linen, Princes Gate, Principality Building Society, RedKite Solicitors, Sytner BMW, Thomas Recruitment Group and Wolfestone.
The winners’ support package sponsors are: AB Glass, Blue Tiger Marketing, Bullock, Gallagher, Holder Mathias Architects, MyConcern, Penguin Recruitment, Seren Global Media, Storm Technologies and Work Wales.