I can now officially announce that I have been awarded the British Citizen Award! :D
Soon you might notice that my name will be a tiny bit longer! Because my official title is now... Miss Natasha Alexandra Krywald BCAv
Though I have to admit I still prefer Tasha haha!
For those who don't already know, The British Citizen Awards (Also known as The Peoples Honor) is a set of awards given to UK Citizens in order to "recognise exceptional endeavour". The awards themselves are a recognition programme (Honours) that are held bi-annually in the United Kingdom for individuals doing extraordinary work in their local community.
Further info is available on their website: https://britishcitizenawards.co.uk/
What does the award mean?
When you accept a British Citizen Award, you attend a presentation ceremony with the other award winners! I believe it is about 30 in total every time they have a ceremony, and the ceremonies happen in January and July of every year. In a few days I will receive my official invite through the post, to the ceremony at The Palace of Westminster in London, where we will be served afternoon tea and watch everyone receive their awards. (I will upload a photo when it arrives!)
From there, we take a bus tour, known as The Lap of Honor, which brings us to the rest of the ceremony and the after drinks! (Because all good awards need a celebration!) Everyone is presented with a certificate and a medal, and has their name officially added to the Honors Roll! And like I mentioned before, we all get new titles! My BCAv stands for, British Citizen Award for Volunteering and will now forever feature at the end of my name! :)
Why was I awarded the British Citizen Award?
In short, I don't truly know haha! Because nominations are free and open to everyone, anyone can be nominated at any time and for many reasons! The category I have been chosen for is The British Citizen Award for Volunteering and Chartitable Giving which is something I have dedicated the vast majority of my time to over the past few years.
From jumping out of planes, sleeping rough for the homeless and shaving my head, to getting tattoos and writing a book, even I have no idea what I will pull out of the hat next! In the past year alone I have raised over £3000 for various charities, which is something I am very proud of and have also helped shape support services for young people in caring roles! My support guide is still in the works, and I am hoping to still make this national, however to date it has helped 3000 young people! I sure do like the number 3000 haha! Maybe its the busted Nostalgia... "I said I've been to the year 3000, not much has changed but they live under water..." If there is someone special that you would like to nominate, just follow the link above! I do know that nominations go through lots of selection processes and if I am correct, 30 are given the Award. (I feel really lucky and privileged to have been chosen!)
Patrons
I was really excited to see that Bradley Walsh from the Chase (and now Doctor Who) is one of the patrons for these awards! It is certainly humbling to see celebrities take time to congratulate and celebrate the achievements of average citizens :)
Other Patrons include, Sarah Dutchess of York, Dame Mary Perkins and Hilary Devey CBE. Not only do they have patrons, there are also many hosts and special guests that attend the awards! Including... Michael Underwood (CBBC Presenter), Matt Allwright, Fiona Phillips and The Rt. Hon. The Lord Dholakia DL, OBE. Previous Award Winners
I really wanted to include some of the previous award winners onto my blog post! Their stories are inspiring and definitely worth the share!
All this information is taken from the offical Honor Roll on the BCA Website!
"Caitlin Jones BCAv, aged 22, has been raising awareness and funds for cancer charities after losing her Dad to the disease when she was aged just 12. She channeled all her grief into doing so, not just for a short period of time, but has continued to do so for 10 years, raising almost £30,000"
"Carlos Dennis BCAv, has had a positive impact on his community initially utilising his connections in the music industry, inviting gang members into a music studio to offer them an alternative to street culture, and for the past nine years establishing and running PINT (People in Need Today)."
Reece Ryan BCAv, 38, from Doncaster has raised over £1m for a number of charities and is also the first Ambassador of the James Bulger Trust.
A boxing night at Radio City saw him raise over £45,000 for Cash for Kids, where the money was spent on thousands of Christmas presents for under privileged children. The Francis House Children’s Hospice also benefitted after Reece sourced the entire stock of a toy shop which was closing down.
He jointly created the Rainbow Run and Midnight Walk for Nightingale House, a Wrexham-based hospice, raising over £150,000.
I am sure you will agree these stories are so inspiring and their are many more on their website!
For now it is just a couple of months wait until I get my own Medal! As you can probably tell, I am very excited :)
I will keep you all updated and ensure to post photos of the event!
Speak to you all Soon,
Love Tasha