Award ceremony moves online to celebrate achievements of young people

Young people who are working hard to make change and contribute to the Ballarat community will be celebrated on Friday during the City of Ballarat Youth Awards.

The Ballarat Youth Council has adapted the event to run live online for the first time in the event's 15-year history.

Youth councillor Brodie Kamp said celebrating young people and creating a positive event was important amid the stress of COVID-19.

"I think there is still a perception that young people don't do much and I think there is a lot of negative perception of young people," he said.

Some of the nominations we have had, they are not doing small things, they are doing things that will really help peopleBrodie Kamp, Ballarat youth councillor

"I don't feel like young people are taken particularly seriously, but there are a lot of young people who are doing really great things to help the community in really meaningful ways.

"Some of the nominations we have had, they are not doing small things, they are doing things that will really help people."

Seventy-eight young people and ally workers have been nominated across 10 award categories, ranging from the arts to sports, entrepreneurship, community group initiatives and volunteer recognition.

The online award ceremony will feature a Welcome to Country by Uncle Barry, 2020 award ambassadors Shon Dunn and Shelby Sherritt and performances by young talent Meraki Minds, Butterfunked, Cassells and Raro.

Mr Kamp said it had been a learning curve to start from scratch to organise the online event, but he believed they had created a high quality show.

"It has been a really stressful time for a lot of young people, especially students having to go to online, having to deal with schoolwork and the stress of being in a pandemic," he said.

"I myself have had to interrupt my studies completely because I don't have the internet connection to complete my studies and the stress of trying to work around that was too much.

"For a lot of young people it kind of feels like the world as we know it is ending. It is a real tough time.

"I think it will be a really positive experience to just show the people who are doing so much for the community that they are doing something great and show that appreciation for them, which I think means a lot.

"Even the people who are just nominated, we try to make it feel like everyone is seen, which I think is really important."

Anyone can join this year's award ceremony from the comfort of their home by watching the livestream on the Ballarat Youth Services Facebook page.

The event starts at 7pm on Friday, September 18.