Society changers: Philip Lawrence Awards

The Philip Lawrence Awards will be a little different this year.

Not only will young people play an even larger part in the ceremony, but there will be 10 winners instead of the usual eight.

Katherine Abbott, head of communications and campaigns at charity 4Children, which is organising the event, says: "The quality of the entries has been getting better and better, so we've expanded this year's awards. It is also timely to have 10 winners because it's a decade since Philip Lawrence died outside his school in Maida Vale, west London."

Young people have played a large part in this year's judging process, with some of the previous winners attending a residential weekend in Birmingham to whittle a list of 50 entries down to 20. A panel of judges including Sir Trevor McDonald, Lawrence's widow Frances and three previous winners selected the 10 finalists at a meeting in London. The winning groups will receive cash prizes of up to 1,000 to invest in their schemes at an event in central London this week.