Issue Number 22 | March 2024
My Experience Attending the Great British Unpaid Young Carers Award
Written by Stephanie Thomas , S3
About a year and a half ago I signed up to join a script writing group . At first it was so awkward meeting and talking to all these different people I have never met before . The first few weeks we would talk about our home life and our stories and then think of a way to put it together into a script , we came up with 3 different stories .
We started to film the movie we were creating but it was only supposed to be a summer job but it took way longer because we knew how far this could go ! We directed , filmed and acted in it . The movie was about three young carers and what the life in a day of the young carer was like .
The first story was about a person that was going for a trip but was nervous about leaving her mum , her mum was lactose intolerant . The second story is about person with a parent in a wheelchair , they were struggling to find a restaurant with a lift and wheelchair fitted tables to take their parent to for their birthday .
The last story is about a person that has a mum with mental health issues , they had to deal with a mother that used alcohol as a way to get away from everything and they didn ’ t know how to deal with that it was a struggle and they always had to look after their little brother .
We had a premier for the movie at some point in February 2023 in the county halls . Now the movie has won multiple awards at different events and is still getting put forward for more . Last year the movie got put forward to the unpaid carers award in new castle and won for our title “ Young Carers ” so then we go put into the finals there were 24 titles and about 9 nominees for each title our title was the “ Unpaid Carers role ” And we won for our title there too !
It was about a 4-hour train ride down to Birmingham and we only had 2 hours to get ready when we got to the Leonardo Royal Hotel . When we got to the event I saw Rylan Clark because he was hosting the event it was so crazy because I would never expect him to be there .
It was a very long and boring night up until the last few titles were called ( we were second last ) And then my heart starting racing , I didn ’ t know how to feel and then when our title got announced it went fast and our name got called that we had won - I didn ’ t know if I wanted to cry or not it was so crazy my emotions were just clashing together . After the long night we finally got back to the hotel and got to relax .
A little bit about the unpaid carers title - The Unpaid Carer Award will be given to an unpaid carer or former carer who , in the opinion of the judges , can demonstrate commitment and perseverance in helping to bring about better recognition and support for carers . It seeks to acknowledge and celebrate the dedication that carers show to their local community or society or the difference they have made to the life of a vulnerable person they are caring for .
The award is open to all without any upper or lower age limit . The person must have been helped bring about change in the last 18 months , be unpaid and receive no financial reward . The individual
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