Nominations are now open for the 2008 William Wallace Awards.

• Nominations close on 8 August 2008.
• An awards ceremony will be held Tuesday, 6 November 2008.

These awards honour outstanding young people in care, many of whom have overcome significant barriers and gone on to great achievements. The awards go towards helping the young person pursue their dreams of tertiary, vocational or leadership training.

All sorts of young people have won William Wallace Awards in the three years since they were launched.  This includes young people who have used the awards to:

• develop their talent for sports or the arts
• go on to university or learn a trade
• develop their potential
• buy equipment to help them pursue their passions.

You are only limited by your imagination, so why not nominate a special young person you know!

What awards are available?

• Tertiary award:  $3000 (for further study after school)
• Vocational award: $3000 (to train for a career or buy equipment)
• Leadership award: $2000 (develop potential through a course like Outward Bound)
• Girls’ Friendly Society Scholarship: This year we are also offering a special scholarship for a young woman (read elegibility criteria below).

Who can receive an award?

Any young person:

• in Child, Youth and Family care
• in the care of iwi or child and family services
• who has recently come out of care when they turned 17
• who can take up the award in 2009.

Who can nominate?

Anyone can nominate a special young person in care. This includes if you are a:

• caregiver
• social worker
• school principal or teacher
• community worker.

How are winners chosen?

A panel made up of representatives from New Zealand’s leading child protection agencies look at all the nominations. The panel includes the CEOs of Barnados and Open Home, representatives from Child, Youth and Family and a young person who has previously won a William Wallace Award. They meet to decide on the winners, who will be announced in September.

Eight awards are usually given out, and last year two additional ‘highly commended’ awards were given out worth $500 each.

Who was William Wallace?

The awards are named after a man called William Wallace who generously left a bequest to Child, Youth and Family. Little is known about him, but his bequest is now helping young people's dreams come true.

Helpful Hints: Making great nominations

The nomination form is the only thing the panel will look at in making their decision, so follow these top tips:

• Be creative: Include photos, copies of certificates, artwork or anything else that will make your young person really stand out.
• Be detailed: You can certainly write more than the space given in the nomination form, so give as much information as you can. You can attach references from other people too.
• Be specific: Give details about your young person’s background, the barriers they’ve overcome, their achievements and talents, and why you think they deserve the award.

For a young woman in the greater Wellington region

For the first time we are proud to be able to offer a special award to an outstanding young woman, living between Wanganui, Wairarapa and Wellington.

What is the scholarship?

• This will offer a young woman an award of up to $4000 each year to cover course costs.
• It will be for every year of study that she passes successfully, for the course of her study or up to three years.
• A friendly GFS rep will also meet up for coffee with the young woman a couple of times a year, to ensure she is getting the help she needs.

How to apply

All you need to do is tick the box on page one of the nomination form, to be considered for the GFS Scholarship, as well as a William Wallace Award.

What is GFS?

This scholarship is sponsored by the Girls’ Friendly Society, a trust that has been around for 125 years, originally set up to provide safe housing for young women settling in Wellington from England!

Jack: An extraordinary life - Tertiary winner 2007

"I'm passionate about leadership roles," says Jack Baker. "I just want to bring out the potential in others and the group.

Jack is a truly exceptional young man, excelling in his studies, leading kapa haka and barbershop groups, and captaining sports teams at school. Last year Jack won a scholarship to study civil engineering at Canterbury University, and his William Wallace Award helped him kick start his study.

It was his social worker Thomas Ngaruhe who nominated Jack for the William Wallace Award. "Despite the things that have happened to this young man he has kept on track to achieve. He's in the top 10% in NCEA in the country. He's won so many awards around the area, and just working with him and his passion to achieve, it's not often you come across that," says Thomas.

"We have a mentoring programme at school, and the young Maori boys in this programme are lifting their game because they want to be like Jack. He's got huge mana among the kids and he walks tall," says his former caregiver, who is also a teacher at his high school.

Angelina: Touched by an angel - Tertiary winner 2007

Angelic forces may well have been at work when caregiver Angela met Angeline. Their special bond helped 17 year old Angeline turn her stumbling blocks into stepping stones, and she has now won a William Wallace tertiary award.

"It does seem like fate," says caregiver Angela Hardgrave. "From the very first time she came to us for respite care we wanted her to be a part of our family. I don’t know where the bond came from, but she could be ours."

Angeline – or Angie as she is called – won a William Wallace Award which gives her a grant to help with tertiary study.  "She got a real buzz out of it," says Angela. "To be honest, the award has been huge for her and when she saw the calibre of the other winners she thought, ‘Wow I have really achieved something’."

Angie has overcome huge obstacles since coming to live with Angela and her husband Colin three years ago. She initially failed her NCEA Level One, but worked "incredibly hard" to pass both Level One and Two the next year.

 "I know that it’s a rarity for a young person in care to overcome their background to the point where they could do something like attend university. We have always told Angie she can do whatever she wants and we will be fully supportive," says Angela.

Ryan Bailes: "Buzzing" - Leadership Award 2007

Ryan is a very special boy who stole hearts at last year’s awards ceremony. He has special needs but despite huge setbacks, has a truly inspirational outlook on life. Since being placed with a specialist caregiver he has blossomed and is doing well at his special school.

"He is a remarkable young man," says his social worker Grant Fulton. "His enthusiasm for life is infectious."

Ryan used his award to attend the Horizons course through Outward Bound. "He came back absolutely buzzing. He fitted in well with the other participants and has had a thoroughly rewarding experience," says Grant.

Turoa Salmon: Dreams come true - Highly commended 2007

When Turoa Salmon attended this year’s ANZAC Day celebrations in Gallipoli, it really was a dream come true. He was a winner of last year’s William Wallace Awards and stole the show at the ceremony in his army uniform. The award went towards funding his trip to Gallipoli, as part of his Cadet training.

The trip of a lifetime was even better than he could have imagined, or as 16 year old Turoa says, "It was mean, it was massive. I didn’t want to come home."

Along with other members of the Opotiki College Army Cadets, Turoa camped overnight to be part of the dawn service. With just their sleeping bags, they bunked down on the benches in the grandstand along with thousands who made the early morning pilgrimage.

A world away in Opotiki, Turoa loves nothing more than to get outdoors on the farm where he lives with his foster family. But since winning the William Wallace Award last year, he has been going from strength to strength. He recently got back from the Spirit of Adventure, sailing around Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel Peninsula, where he was elected as Captain.

He has helped the Cadets win national competitions and was recently promoted to Lance Corporal. This year he is continuing at school but has his sights set on a career in the army, and that is another dream which will no doubt come true.