A mental health charity which delivers early intervention programmes across the province has launched an award to give back to young people.
Hope 4 Life NI, based in North Belfast, brings innovative comics to schools and other youth settings, under the Uberheroes umbrella. The comics are based on true stories of real young people’s lived experiences of mental illness.
And in a couple of weeks time, the Uberheroes Kindness Awards will take place in Belfast, with the team asking for nominations of special children and young people to be brought forward.
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It will be the third year of awards and takes place on Saturday April 1.
The Uberheroes Kindness Awards were created in 2021 as a virtual event whilst the world was still experiencing lockdown and the pandemic. In March 2022, the first, in person, awards ceremony was held in the Stormont Hotel with over 300 guests attending.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Nadia Sayers explained how their team at Hope 4 Life NI is preparing for a huge night this year.
"It is going to be a fantastic night," she said.
"Kindness can be underrated, when it is a massive deal. I can guarantee that everyone would remember an act of kindness that someone has done for them, no matter how big or small, and how that made them feel.
"Why are we not celebrating it more? We then decided to do it, to celebrate young people's acts of kindness.
"Nominations are already coming in thick and fast and they are still open. We are keeping them open until February 17. You can nominate a child or young person from the ages of 8 to 16, on the Uberheroes website
"And all we want is to be told why. To be given examples of why that young person should win an act of kindness award."
CEO and creative programme director, Dee Nixon said The Uberheroes Kindness Awards were created as a way of "engaging and uplifting the children and young people during the second lockdown".
"We came up with the idea because of the wonderful kindness shown to neighbours, key workers and the elderly by the pupils we met during our Uberheroes workshops the previous term," Dee added.
"Although the first award ceremony was delivered over Zoom, each finalist received a party box filled with everything they’d need to create a party atmosphere. The reactions from the finalists, their parents and the schools was so overwhelmingly positive that we just had to do again, but it in person, last year.
"Kindness is a wonderful characteristic to encourage in our children, the breadth of kindness celebrated through our awards is so uplifting to everyone in the room especially the finalists and their families."
Nominations are now open at Acts of Kindness Awards and more information on categories, and how to get involved can be found here.
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