Youngsters get their eyes on the prize thanks to help from a trusting friend

Since it was set up in 1976, the organisation has been quietly

championing the achievements of young people and providing the kind of practical and financial support to help them move into work, education or training that's simply not available elsewhere.

In the charity's offices up and down the country, the phones rarely stop ringing, but in recent months the workload has got even bigger.

"It's incredibly busy at the moment," says Sam Kennedy, acting regional director of the trust in Yorkshire and the Humber. "With many firms cutting back on recruitment, the glut of graduates who have entered the jobs market are going for and getting the kind of positions a few years ago they wouldn't have even looked twice at.

"It's completely understandable, but it's meant the young people we deal with have been squeezed even further out of the picture. When you've perhaps struggled with formal education or have experienced a setback at a young age, to be constantly told, 'No' is incredibly demoralising. Without experience it's hard to get a foot on the career ladder, but securing that experience is incredibly difficult and many of the young people we see feel trapped in a vicious cycle."

However, even in the toughest of economic times, the Prince's Trust boasts a number of real success stories and it's those individuals who will be recognised at the annual Celebrate Success Awards. This year's regional heats take place on Thursday and a quick glance at the list of nominees in the Community Impact category shows that if you look hard enough there are good news stories to puncture the doom and gloom. Among those competing for the award, which is sponsored this year by the Yorkshire Post, are members of Tong High School's Year 10 xl club in Bradford.

Similar clubs, run by the Prince's Trust, have been set up in schools across the country with the hope of preventing those predicted of leaving education with few qualifications slipping through the net. Working to a specially devised curriculum, the groups meet at least three hours a week and as well as improving their own chances of securing work or future training they are also encouraged to take part in community projects.

At Tong High School, the group decided that with various nursing homes on the nearby Holme Wood estate they would organise a Christmas party for the elderly residents. It was the teenagers who arranged a minibus for their guests, booked the entertainment and organised the decorations and now embarking on the second and final year of the xl course, the project is something they still talk about.

"Young people often find themselves hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons," says Sam. "But the truth is that the vast majority of teenagers do want to be active citizens and sometimes just need a little support and encouragement to change their lives around.

"The project at Tong High School was driven by the pupils and it's a shining example of the good which can be achieved."

Elsewhere, residents of the Broadacres Homeless Service are also being recognised for transforming the communal garden of the housing association's development in Northallerton.

Overgrown and neglected, the residents launched the Grow Your Own project. Securing the advice of a local farmer and with support of the association's staff, the group successfully applied for one of the Prince's Trust's community cash awards which allowed them to create raised vegetable beds and clear the rest of the land.

It ticked all the right boxes in terms of low food miles and self-sufficiency, but equally important to the people who live there is the fact it created a much-needed social space.

"There was nothing there, just long grass," says 23-year-old Damon McAvey, who has lived in Broadacres for five months and was one of the drivers behind the project. "We decided to make a vegetable plot so the tenants could grow their own food, but it was also about creating somewhere nice to sit out, a place you could look out of the window and be proud of."

The Broadacres project is the essence of what the Celebrate Success Awards are about.

"It may sound like a small project, but the impact is incredible," says Sam.

"Sadly, homelessness and those who live in hostels often feel stigmatised, but by taking control of this space it showed the outside world they want to be part of the wider community."

Another garden inspired project has also been nominated for the Community Impact Award. At HMP Everthorpe in Brough, near Hull, 42 prisoners recently created a garden to highlight the consequences of carrying knives.

Under the banner, Save a Life, Drop a Knife, the garden includes a bridge, pond and stepping stones, which represent the journey away from a life of crime.

It is hoped, with the continued support from the Prince's Trust, the garden will gain national recognition at next year's Royal Horticultural Society Tatton Park Flower Show.

"Knife crime is a very big issue at the moment," says Steve Shackleton, the prison's employment, learning and skills manager. "We are here to get offenders into employment and projects like this give them the chance to develop their skills and by stepping away from crime, reduce the re-offending rate."

The Celebrating Success Awards will also recognise the efforts of young entrepreneurs like Rebecca Taylor, who despite leaving school at 16 with no qualifications, has become the youngest person to open a retail unit in a UK shopping centre.

Now 24-years-old, Rebecca, who juggles the demands of running the Original Lash and Nail Bar in Doncaster's Frenchgate centre with being mother to three-year-old Harry, is now turning over 200,000 a year. The business was set up thanks to 15,000 grant and a 3,000 loan from the trust and with Rebecca employing eight other people she has been nominated for the BUPA Young Achiever of the Year award.

She'll be competing alongside Kathryn Sillince who rebuilt her life following a nervous breakdown and now runs ethical leather accessories business Magpie Accessories in Sheffield and Alistair Hague, who was forced to sell his home after being made redundant, but whose firm Alchemistic, now successfully helps other businesses sell unwanted goods online.

"There are lots of challenges on the horizon, but we have a lot of experience behind us," says Sam. "We have good links with the private sector and work with businesses to secure placements for young people. The Big Society is attracting attention, but it's something which the trust has always been passionate about."

Celebrating success

The Celebrate Success Awards were launched seven years ago to recognise the achievements of young people who had been supported by the Prince's Trust.

This year the Yorkshire Post is sponsoring the Community Impact Award, which rewards the positive contributions made by young people to their local community.

The winners of the Yorkshire and Humber regional heat will be announced at a ceremony at Aspire in Leeds on Thursday.

Other categories include the Enterprise Award and Young Achiever of the Year and three winners in each section, from across the country, will go forward to the national final next year.

LESSONS IN LIFE: Top, Awais Yousaf, Eyob Huruy, Diane Batty, Stacie Bayliss and Adam Lancelot from the XL Club at Tong High School. Above left: Awais Yousaf on the climbing wall as part of the XL Club. Above right: The anti-knife garden created at Everthorpe prison. MAIN PICTURE: TONY JOHNSON