Young people who have acted as tutors, community leaders and fundraisers are among those honoured in the Queen’s new year honours list. The youngest recipients – and the youngest people ever to receive an honour – are 11 and 12.
Max Woosey, 12, has captured the imagination of outdoors-loving young people by camping out for what is now 21 consecutive months to raise nearly £600,000 and counting for the North Devon Hospice, which cared for his neighbour Rick Abbott who died of cancer aged 74 in March 2020.
Max, who inspired thousands of children around the world to camp in their own back yards, said receiving the honour felt “unreal”. “Getting an award like this for not being famous but for doing good things I think shows that we do have a good future, that young people can be role models, and it is all going to be all right,” he said.
Yet Max is not the youngest on the list, an accolade that goes to 11-year-old Tobias Garbutt Weller, from Sheffield. Inspired by Captain Sir Tom Moore, Tobias has completed two marathons and an Ironman challenge despite being unable to walk unaided. Starting when he was nine years old in March 2020, Tobias, who is autistic and has cerebral palsy, has raised more than £150,000, and he is awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM).
As well as feats of endurance, young people are also recognised for stepping up to help their communities, such as 16-year-old Sahil Usman who delivered essential items to vulnerable people in Blackburn while undergoing treatment for leukaemia. As well as raising awareness about the impact of cancer on young people in presentations in schools, Sahil has hosted a radio show for local minority ethnic communities to encourage understanding of coronavirus.
In Luton, Muhammad Kamil Ali turned himself into a tutoring machine during the pandemic. The 19-year-old, who is applying for medical school, taught every day for periods through the BCPD Trust, and still regularly teaches young people whose education was disrupted as a result of Covid out of school hours.
“It’s a good feeling,” he said, on being awarded a BEM. “I’ve been doing it a long time now so it feels nice to have that recognised.” Asked what the awards to young people said about the UK, he added: “I think it shows that everybody has a skill, everyone is good at something. In life you should give back, and everyone can find their own way of doing that.”
Alice Jackson, 21, from Andover in Hampshire, said her BEM – awarded after she became a leading member of a group of volunteers helping their rural community in lockdown – was a reflection of a bigger group effort.
“[The award] is a reflection on the whole community coming together and looking out for other people,” she said. “At the time it just had to be done – I just thought it was an issue that needed solving and I had the time to do it.”
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said the 2022 list was one of the most diverse on record, and included a greater number of awards for young people. They said: “Young people have done some extraordinary things during the pandemic and it’s important that the country recognises that service.”
