Participate Award winner makes positive change in community

Congratulations to Emily Hardbottle who was named as the recipient of the Commissioner for Children and Young People’s Participate Award at last week’s 2015 Youth Awards.

Commissioner Colin Pettit was there make the announcement and recognise the achievements of Emily and the three 2015 finalists in making a positive change in their community and for inspiring other young people to do the same.

Emily is a fifteen year-old student from Santa Maria College who has dedicated herself to improving the lives of children with disability to create a more inclusive society, playing an instrumental role in the setup of a new Wheelchair Basketball program in Melville.

Emily is also part of her local Youth Advisory Council, is a volunteer at Young Carers WA and was recently announced as the Young Carer representative for Western Australia.

The Commissioner for Children and Young People Participate Award was established in 2010 and is part of the WA Youth Awards. The Award recognises young people aged 12 to 17 years who have shown an outstanding commitment to improve their communities.

There were three excellent young finalists for the award in 2015: Danikka Calyon, who was named as Highly Commended for the category, and finalists Aaron Johnston and Shannieka Martino.

Information about the achievements of all four award winners is available on the Participate Award page.