Million Minutes’ launches its Celebrating Young People Awards 2022

We are thrilled to announce that our popular Celebrating Young People Awards 2022 nominations are now live! These social action awards comprise six awards recognising children and young people specifically (inspired by each of the values of Catholic Social Teaching), one recognising youth workers, and one new award recognising religious and clergy. Applicants will have until mid May to nominate a young person doing amazing social action work or someone working on behalf of young people, and Award recipients and nominees will be announced at an event held in the Palace of Westminster in July 2022, in an event hosted by Siobhain McDonagh MP with special guests in attendance.

We are also proud to announce the launch of a new Award, in collaboration with The Jesuits in Britain, which celebrates clergy and religious who are committed to social action and parish transformation in their communities that is inclusive of young people. The Rutilio Grande & Companions Award will be part of the well-established Celebrating Young People Awards suite.

This Awards suite features six awards that specifically recognise the actions of young people in support of Catholic Social Teaching (The Jimmy Mizen Award for peace, The Dorothy Day Award for community service, The Barbara Ward Award for care for creation, the Josephine Bakhita Award for protecting human dignity, The Cardinal Hume award for living out the option of the poor, and the Joseph Cardijn Award for protecting dignity of labour presented with the Young Christian Workers movement), and an additional award, alongside the Catholic Youth Ministry Federation, which recognises exceptional youth ministry.

To date, almost one thousand young people have been nominated for Million Minutes Celebrating Young People Awards, giving Catholic schools, retreat centres and parishes a means by which to recognise and celebrate young people, as the next generation of social action leaders. Previous award winners have included 18 year old Shanea Oldham from Newham, who won the Jimmy Mizen Award in 2019 for her reconciliation efforts in her community, Jehanut Bari who won the Dorothy Day Award in 2019 for her work in facilitating inter-religious dialogue in Brentwood, and 18 year old Harry Wale in Wigan who won the Cardinal Hume Award for his community work with those facing financial crisis. You can survey our full list of previous award winners from 2019 here.

CEO of Million Minutes, Daisy Srblin, said: ‘We are so excited that after two whole years of uncertainty, we can relaunch our ground-breaking Celebrating Young People Awards for 2022. Young people have been at the forefront of social action during the pandemic, organising food banks and caring for the vulnerable, despite being some of the worst-affected economically, educationally and socially by the last two years. We cannot wait to read and share stories of amazing young people who have been serving their community, to give young people the recognition they deserve. We are also very proud to continue hosting the CYMFED Award, celebrating a youth worker or chaplain working with young people in open and inclusive ways, and the new Rutilio Grande & Companions Award, hosted with the Jesuits in Britain, celebrating members of religious orders and clergy who work for the common good in a way that is proactively inclusive of all young people. We encourage teachers, parishioners, priests, religious, youth ministers, catechists and all those who work with young people in a Catholic setting to consider nominating today.’

We encourage all those who have met inspiring young people or those working with young people, in Catholic settings, to consider submitting an application. Young nominees do not need to be Catholic to be nominated and recognised – and you can access a full list of FAQs here. Young nominees will also have the chance to be considered for a small youth social action grant to continue and strengthen their community work.

Applications for the 2022 Celebrating Young People Awards are open! Visit https://millionminutes.org/national-awards to nominate

Please get in touch with the team with any questions on awards@millionminutes.org

Beth shares her experience of Silence

At the beginning of March, I spent 24 hours without my voice to be in solidarity with young people around the world whose voices are not heard, raising sponsorship for the work of Million Minutes. 

Those 24 hours have given me space to reflect and be an active listener to those around me. It has been a very real challenge for me, and a challenge that I haven’t battled easily. With only one or two minor slip-ups, each interaction with other people presented me with a choice. A choice of whether I would put the energy and effort into playing charades to communicate with them, or if I would just pass up the opportunity to communicate entirely. 

Those who know me, especially my family, were fairly skeptical if I would ‘survive’ the full 24 hours – they thought that I wouldn’t be able to last without sharing my opinion with at least one other person at some point in the day. This was my first point of reflection – do I speak more than I listen? Am I always quick to share my own thoughts before waiting and listening to the voice of others? 
I made a conscious effort that my silence wouldn’t silence others – rather I would listen to them speak – but this was difficult when I couldn’t begin a conversation with them. But my experience of SiLENT goes so much further than these 24 hours – this reflection can be carried through the rest of Lent and beyond. Taking time in conversation to hold my own tongue, and instead, consciously take the time and effort to listen to the voices of those who are not heard loudly enough, or frequently enough.  

While having dinner with my fiancé on Monday evening, he essentially had a one-sided conversation, sharing with me about his day. He asked about mine, and I went to some great effort playing charades for him to guess how my day had been spent – which was nothing exciting or out of the ordinary – but it turned into this huge game. Through the means of waving my arms around and pointing at things, I only focused on the physical actions I had taken, rather than how I was feeling – if I had focused on that, my actions would not have been as funny or wild. A mere twelve hours into my silence, I was feeling quite alone and isolated. While I know that my silence will end soon, this was the first time that I wasn’t able to share how I feel with the person that I am closest to. In these days where the world is terrifying and heart-breaking, leaning on someone that you love makes the weight of anxiety easier to bear. I feel for the people in the world, especially those in Ukraine, who are terrified, anxious, and alone.  

Increasingly, we are becoming aware of the severity of our own mental wellbeing and the effect that a lack of self-care can have on our personal welfare. It can be difficult to reach out for support when we need it, as sometimes being vulnerable affects us in a much greater way. My time in silence this week brought back memories of a time when I couldn’t bring myself to share my thoughts and feelings. It was a stark reminder of how far I had come, and those who had helped me reach this point in my growth. Having this gentle reminder has brought to the forefront how crucial it is to check in with those around me who may be struggling, reaching out that hand of support, to let them know that there is a safe support system around them whenever they may need it.  

This Lent, in fact, this year, I urge each person that reads this reflection takes a moment to consider how important your role is within this world. Understand the impact that your voice has; on yourself, on the people around you, in the Church, and in the world.  

Columban Missionaries announce young 'Changemaker' winners

The winners of the Columban Missionaries’ ‘Changemaker’ media competition have been announced. Young people aged 13 to 18 years old from around the UK were invited to submit articles and images exploring the subject: ‘Anyone can make a difference: 21st Century Changemakers’. Inspired by Catholic Social Teaching, young people were encouraged to reflect on who in the world today is doing something about inequality, injustice, exclusion and environmental degradation, and what can they teach us about our own situations.

The Columbans received hundreds of submissions which were judged by a panel including Ruth Gledhill (Multi-Media Editor at The Tablet), Josephine Siedlecka (Founder and Editor of Independent Catholic News), Daisy Srblin, (CEO of Million Minutes) and James Trewby (Columban Education Worker).

Reflecting on her reading of the images and articles from the competition, Daisy said: ‘It’s clear that young people have a real appreciation for the world’s changemakers, and it is wonderful to see their thoughtfulness and reflection around themes including racial justice, gender equality, LGBTQ+ justice and climate justice, all inspired by the values of Catholic Social Teaching’.

Elijah Gilbert of Richard Challoner School, New Malden won first prize in the images section for his collage of people of inspiration. Second place went to Katherine Fawole of St Paul’s Academy in London for her Gouache painting of Greta Thunberg. Oliver Lafite of Richard Challoner School and Paulette De Jose of Holy Cross School in New Malden came joint third, for their depictions of Marcus Rashford and Amanda Gorman (racial justice activist) / Molly Burhans (environmental activist) / Jamie Margolin (LGBTQ+ rights activist)/ Jaclyn Friedman (feminist campaigner) respectively.

Have a look at the winning images here and below:

Article winners (clockwise R-L) Jessica Saxon, Mahi Sikan, Ella Bothwell and Scarlett Peart-Lapidge

In Britain, Jessica Saxon of St George’s College in Weybridge wrote the winning article about US politician and human rights campaigner Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, while Mahi Sikan of Thomas More School in Bedford, wrote about an Afghani woman on a mission to improve the healthcare of her community in very difficult circumstances, and came a close second. Ella Bothwell of St Richard Gwyn in Flint (who wrote a great piece about David Attenborough) and Scarlett Peart-Lapidge of Bishop Thomas Grant in London (who wrote about the Mizen family and their tireless campaigning for peace) were joint third.

Have a read of the winning articles here.

You can find out more about the Columban Missionaries School media competition, and all runners up, here.

All images and information courtesy of the Columban Missionaries’ Changemaker media competition