Each year children and young people from our Badger, Cadet and Young Adult programmes compete to be awarded a prestigious national position, representing our charity and our young people in Wales.
The Badger, Cadet and Young Adult of the Year award are open to our young volunteers between the ages of 5-25 who compete against each other to be in with a chance of winning as part of our National Youth Awards.
Evaluated through a stringent nomination, interview and skills-based process where important skills and qualities including leadership, compassion and first aid knowledge as well as influence in their community (where attributes such as kindness and empathy are evaluated) are assessed by a panel of judges - in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's awards took place online.
Winners go on to become Youth Ambassadors and the voice for our future lifesavers attending prestigious events across Wales and representing the current experiences and issues facing our children and young people today.
This year’s competition presented unique challenges in comparison to previous years as our young people demonstrated their ability to adapt and overcome challenges the global pandemic has posed to them.
From adjusting to home-schooling to continuing positive actions in their community, our young people continue to excel, and this year’s winners are outstanding assets to our charity, their peers, and their communities.
We’re unbelievably proud of everyone who competed in this year’s National Youth Competitions. Our children and young people have shown incredible resilience and dedication to their local communities and we’ve been overwhelmed by their compassion towards making a difference and speaking up on behalf of young people.
Thanks to everyone who gave their time to compete and huge congratulations, Llongyfarchiadau to all our winners and participants, they should be very proud of their achievements.
St John Ambulance Cymru, Youth Development Officer, Stacey Ainscow
The full list of winners are as follows:
National Cadet of the Year
Joshua Taylor
Deputy Cadet of the Year
Monisha Premkumar
National Badger of the Year
Maddie Carey
Deputy Badger of the Year
Ruby Gregory
National Young Adult of the Year
Laura Jolliffe
Deputy Young Adult of the Year
Celyn Clement
Youth Leader of the Year
Sally Bond
Joshua takes over the role from Rhiannon who served as Cadet of the Year for the past 18 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maddie takes over the role from Amy who was awarded Badger of the Year in 2019.
More information about our youth programmes and the ways you can get involved is available here.