Do you know an 11 to 24-year-old who has gone out of their way to volunteer in the community? 

If you do, make sure to nominate them for the Upper Clutha Youth Council and Kahu Youth Volunteer Awards before nominations close on Friday (November 10). 

Kahu Youth operations manager Anna Sutherland said the awards, which have run most years since 2014, were created to showcase the positive contributions of young people in the Upper Clutha.

“It’s about recognition for all the wonderful things our youth do in our community. We want to celebrate them and give them a place to be acknowledged.

“Volunteering is so good for young people - it gives them a sense of inclusion and belonging; the satisfaction of giving back; they develop new skills; and meet new people.

“We want to encourage youth to volunteer so they can reap those benefits.”

Nominees must be between 11 and 24 years old and their contributions to the community must be completely voluntary (community service work and paid work are excluded).

Like previous years, there will be winners in a range categories as well as a supreme winner, celebrated at an awards event on November 24.

For the first time ever, the awards ceremony will be held at Kahu Youth’s new space - their new premises within Paetara Aspiring Central.

The Kahu Youth team have been operating from their new premises for just a couple of weeks.

“It’s quite special being able to invite our community to this space as our last space was too small for events,” Anna said.

“We’re excited to show people what we’ve done with the space.”

Nominations for the awards have been a little slow so far despite there being hundreds of young people who volunteer locally, she said.

Anna encouraged anyone thinking of making a nomination to do so before closing, so those individuals can be celebrated.

To nominate someone, fill in the online form here.

PHOTO: Supplied