Positive Images Award winners are unveiled

The awards, for the media and young people alike, aim to counter negative stereotypes of teenagers and award fair representations of young people.
 
Sugar scooped the award for best national press coverage of young people. The Baby Borrowers, a controversial series in which teenage couples were made to look after children, won the award for best television coverage of young people.
 
Other winners included a film made by young people living in Safestop, a hostel in Manchester, in which they provide an open and honest insight into their lives in residential care.

North London teenager Amienata Sillah won an award for her moving and powerful response to the tragedy of a friend being stabbed to death. Fed up with the torrent of media coverage of youth violence, she produced a DVD to educate her peers and the community about the reality of knife crime.
 
At the awards reception at Portcullis House, Cabinet Office minister Ed Miliband praised the efforts of the CYP Now’s Positive Images campaign, saying: “We have to change the image of young people in this country. It is the responsibility of politicians and the media.”
 
Among those on hand to present awards were Dawn Butler MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Youth Affairs and Anne Weinstock, chair of the government’s Youth Task Force.
 
CYP Now editor Ravi Chandiramani said: “I'd like to thank all those who entered the 2008 Positive Images Awards and of course congratulate the worthy winners. As well as providing positive images, these awards are about allowing young people to have their voice. It’s essential that young people are talked to, rather than just talked about, as is so often the case in the British media.”
 
The winners in full are: Best local press coverage of young people: Scarborough Evening News; Best national press coverage of young people: Sugar magazine; Best radio coverage of young people: the Wired Radio Show on Radio Borders; Best television coverage of young people: The Baby Borrowers; Best involvement by a young person in promoting positive media portrayal: Amienata Sillah; Best publicity campaign by a youth group: the sex and relationships education campaign by the UK Youth Parliament; Best magazine produced by young people for young people: Voice 21 from Sandwell youth service; Best broadcast produced by young people for young people: the Safestop project in Manchester run by Depaul Trust from Film It!; and Best interactive media produced by young people for young people: G2K (Get2Know.org.uk) from Lambeth Council.
 
A full write-up of all of the winners will appear in the 18 June edition of Children & Young People Now.