So the Positive Images Award winners have been announced. It seems a while ago now that I spent an intense day in London helping to sift through the masses of brilliant entries to pick winners for each category.

Now in their fifth year, the Positive Images Awards shine a spotlight on the great work youth groups and individuals do within their communities to promote young people in a fair and balanced way. They recognise the contributions of media organisations that look beyond the stereotype of young people as “yobs” and “louts” and report on the many positive things they do.

In many of the categories, it was a really hard job to pick a winner as the standard was excellent. The full list of winners can be found here (including examples of their work) and here, including some great quotes from the judges!

Talking of quotes, I got a very brief mention in the Guardian Society Daily news digest on Monday. From the article:

We’ve picked up a 2010 Positive Images gong for a special issue of Society Guardian in April 2009 which we handed over to a panel of teenagers to commission write and edit. You can see the excellent results of their work here.

The supplement covered issues ranged from teenage pregnancy, stereoptyping of young people as hoodies, gun crime and an interview with the then children’s secretary Ed Balls.

According to awards judge Jon Jolly, a youth worker at Arun Community Church in West Sussex:

“The youth special was an excellent example of how young people can provide insightful and engaging ideas when given the chance. It also helped to counter the image that young people are troublemakers and show they are a force for good.”

So there you go! Have a look at what others are doing to promote young people, get inspired, and enter next year!