Knife crime campaign wins Prince's award

The Prince's Trust Celebrate Success Awards – now in their seventh year – acknowledge the achievements of young people, as well as those who help them.

The Community Impact Award, which recognises the positive contribution young people make to their local community, was sponsored by the Yorkshire Post.

It was won by "Save a Life, Drop the Knife" – a concept garden raising awareness of knife crime, which was created by prisoners at HMP Everthorpe at Brough, near Hull.

Officer instructor in horticulture at HMP Everthorpe Glen Jackson said: "You can't write any of these lads off. You've got to give them a chance and they have proved what they can do.

"The lads were able to use a wide range of skill sets that they had learned in the workshops."

The Yorkshire and the Humber section of the Celebrate Success Awards – one of 12 regional heats nationwide – was held at Aspire in Leeds.

Rebecca Taylor went from being a single mother to the youngest person to open a retail unit in a shopping centre and now turns over 200,000-a-year at a beauty salon in Doncaster.

The 24-year-old, who received the Young Achiever of the Year award last night, said: "It's recognition for two years of hard work. The trust listens and treats me as an individual."

Other winners included 16-year-old Katrina Smith, of Leeds, Barnsley photographer Rebecca Sykes, 27, and football coach John Pritchard, 25, of Hull.

He said: "I was lonely at home on the couch watching TV but now I'm doing really well.

"The Prince's Trust has changed my life."

Bradford construction worker Joshua Allmark, 20, and 26-year-old Trust ambassador Dominic Mills, of Huddersfield, also picked up awards at the ceremony.