Andrew Baker won big in a special awards ceremony celebrating inspirational young people and their achievements on February 21st.
Report from Oxford People: Play2Give founder Andrew Baker wins Oxford youth award
The Oxfordshire Youth Awards 2013Â took centre stage at Oxford Town Hall on this prestigious evening celebrating the inspirational and incredible achievements of young people across Oxfordshire who had overcome bravery, to excelling in the arts or sports, helping those in the community volunteering passionately, to being enterprising, to be inspiring and standing out!
300 young people – aged 11 to 25 – were nominated in the annual awards initiative, organised by the Oxfordshire Association for Young People. The awards featured performances from some of the most exciting young talent in Oxfordshire from dance group, Body Politic to singer Jordan O’Shea, Sands Theatre and Aspire, to rapper Jack Bushrod.
In front of an audience of 600 people, from guests to nominees to top VIPs including author Philip Pullman, former Supergrass front-man Gaz Coombes and Oxford United CEO Ian Lenagan and player John-Paul Pittman, gongs were handed out across 7 categories.
Play2Give are delighted to say that Andrew, nominated in the Enterprise Award category by Headway Oxfordshire, triumphed and came out top, being named as the first place in this award celebrating those youngsters who have shown a great passion for enterprise with a commitment shown in an entrepreneurial spirit and a proactive attitude.
Andrew is pictured above being presenting with his award by the sponsors Jennings, together with Mr Tom Claridge, the winner of the Haines Watts Young Entrepreneur of the Year for his business keyagent.
Andrew, who didn’t expect to win the award, and faced tough competition out of 17 contenders for the category, says: “I’m so pleased and chuffed. I never imagined I would be in the top 3 finalists let alone win the trophy. After raising money tirelessly for 10 years for a cause so close to my heart, I am so pleased to have won. It’s a great way to cap off 10 incredible years of fundraising, and I just can’t quite believe I won, with so many deserving and truly remarkable budding entrepreneurs in line to take the title.
“It was a great night full of so many inspirational and many moving stories, and to win this award is the icing on the cake. I have worked so hard and its nice to be recognised for so much. It’s a great team effort though – and this award is in tribute to all those whose helped me raise so much and worked hard on fundraising efforts with me, including my Play2Give team for whom I couldn’t do Play2Give without!”
Andrew met Gaz from Supergrass after the awards. Both are pictured below.
Photographs from the evening can be found on Facebook!