Wythenshawe young person honoured with the British Citizen Youth Award
We're proud to celebrate the incredible achievement of Summer Best, a passionate young person from Wythenshawe, who has been honoured with the British Citizen Youth Award (BCyA) for her outstanding contribution to youth voice and community action.
Since the age of five, Summer has shown an exceptional commitment to helping others. Her journey began in 2020, collecting 25 bags of food for Bideford Community Centre. Since then, she’s led Christmas and Easter missions supporting local families in hardship – growing her Christmas initiative to 300 selection boxes and food bags by 2022, and collecting 1,700 Easter eggs to ensure every child felt included.
Summer has raised thousands of pounds for Manchester charities, including £650 for WHP Family Centre and nearly £4,000 for Wythenshawe Hospital’s neonatal unit. Her efforts have supported Bideford Community Centre, The Hope Project and Emmeline’s Pantry, inspiring her peers and proving that age is no barrier to making a real difference.
The award ceremony took place on Thursday 30th October, attended by youth representatives and community members. Our Youth team, who have proudly supported Summer’s community work over the years, also joined in celebrating this well-deserved recognition.
The BCyA Medal of Honour is presented to only a small number of exceptional young individuals annually. The British Citizen Youth Award in partnership with Specsavers, is widely viewed as the nation’s way of recognising extraordinary, everyday young people for exceptional endeavour and is open to any person aged 18 or under who is committed to helping others.
“We are delighted to be able to recognise these amazing individuals with a BCyA. It is both heartening and uplifting to know that so many young people are consciously contributing to causes such as the environment, climate change, education, and creating awareness and fundraising for hospitals, medical research and charities,” stated Mike Faulkner, Director of the BCyA.
