On Monday 9 November, Maggi Douglas-Dunbar, The Worshipful Mayor of Torbay hosted a virtual awards ceremony to present the next deserving winner of the Mayor’s Special Recognition Award with their certificate.

Launched during the summer after hearing inspiring stories of how young people were responding to the coronavirus lockdown, the awards celebrate individual young people across Torbay who are making a difference in their local community or to the environment.

All nominations received were considered by a panel of five Councillors, which included the Mayor and Cllr Terry Manning Deputy Civic Mayor, with the panel determining that Olivia Seaward was to be the next worthy winner of the award.

Olivia, aged 16 from Torquay was nominated for going above and beyond in supporting a local community music project; ‘MusicAtTheEdge’. Since the beginning of the first lockdown back in March, Olivia has generously volunteered her time, creating weekly vlog sessions teaching music theory to beginners. Olivia also attended numerous project planning Zoom sessions and even planned and hosted an online live music festival raising awareness for our local fishing industry.

Maggi Douglas-Dunbar, The Worshipful Mayor of Torbay said: “The panel were extremely impressed by the quality of all of the nominations received, it was difficult to decide on our next winner, but Olivia stood out as an exceptional young person, supporting her local community and making a real difference.

“It is important to value the work of young people in our communities, Olivia, along with our previous winners Alfie and Isabelle are all shining examples to us all; fully involving themselves in the local community and showing a commitment to helping others. I hope that these exceptional young people inspire others across Torbay to embrace their local community and help others where they can”.

Nominations are currently being received for the next round of the awards.

All young people up to the age of 25 are eligible for the award, the deadline to submit nominations is Wednesday 13 January 2021.

Winners of the award will receive a certification and a £15 National Book Token.

To find out more and to make a nomination visit: https://www.torbay.gov.uk/mayors-sra

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