This week we feature the next six nominees for the Millennium Volunteers Awards, youngsters who have made outstanding contributions to local organisations.

The MV Awards have been up and running since June and aim to recognise the hard work undertaken by youths aged between 18 and 24 who have become involved in the organisation's chosen projects.

Each project was given a nomination form and then ten regional winners of the competition will get an all expenses paid trip to London, with their project manager, for a plush London prize-giving ceremony in the New Year.

They will be presented with their prizes and certificates from ministers and will get to meet the campaign's celebrities.

See next week's Guardian for the final six nominees.

Peter Taylor

Peter Taylor has worked long and hard to highlight the rights of children in homes and in care.

The 20-year-old has completed more than 200 hours of

voluntary work with Croydon-based group, Respect a children's rights project dealing with education housing and benefits for young people in children's homes and foster care.

He has been involved with the One Voice Conference' in April 2001 and had excellent feed back which made him proud to be involved.

Peter has put any hours working there into Respect and still continues. He was asked to join because he was living in an independent hostel and had been through experiences similar to other young people involved.

He now wants to work with young people as a career and at the moment is doing work experience by being an ambassador for Croydon Millennium Volunteers.

Leon Edmonson

Leon Edmondson is another volunteer who has worked tirelessly for the Croydon Young People's Theatre (CRYPT) helping budding actors to realise their dream and make it a reality.

The 20-year-old helps out regularly at the Thornton Heath club and has clocked up an impressive 170 hours of voluntary work.

The theatre group is a performing arts clubs for youngsters aged between 12 years and 18 years which allows them to express themselves through music and drama.

Paul Franklin

The St Giles After School Disabilities Club lost a member but gained a volunteer when Paul Franklin found he was unable to join.

The 22-year-old was too old to join the club so instead signed up to be volunteer.

He has given up his spare time with the club for years and has totted up more than 115 hours since registering as a Millennium Volunteer.

His support worker says they are very pleased with his progress as Paul has taken on more responsibilities since becoming a Millennium Volunteer at the beginning of last year.

Paul is described as always cheerful and enjoys his work. He is now seen as a role model with members of his club which has led to Paul growing in confidence.

Marie-Theres Ayoola-Blair

An ambitious venture to get Croydon's youth interested in politics has been helped immensely by the hard work of one teenage girl.

Marie-Theres Ayoola-Blair, 18, has given up more than 200 hours to the Connexions Youth Group and is a member of the borough's Youth Parliament.

Marie started volunteering to make sure their opinions were heard by the relevant bodies. She now is on the Youth Parliament Committee and is helping people to get a better impression of the youth of Croydon.

Marie's dedication will see her continuing her work with the Youth Parliament. She was one of the first to volunteer with Connexions Youth Group.

Laura Scott-James

The youth of Croydon are very lucky to have someone like Laura Scott-James, 22, campaigning on their behalf.

The volunteer with the Young People's Team at the Croydon drop-in centre, championing issues that directly affect youths.

Laura also gives up her free time to sit on the Croydon Community Police Consultative Committee where she is a youth panel chairperson and part of Croydon's Crime Reduction Partnership & Finding a Voice.

Laura was nominated because of her sheer hard work and dedication to her roles, as well as holding down a full-time job looking after triplets.

Her massive amount of voluntary work has included helping to design a directory titled, Young People's Guide to Services in Croydon', while working at the Croydon Drop-In Centre.

Matthew Bishop

While the very essence of volunteer work relies heavily on the front line of workers

giving their time to projects and charities, the system would collapse if it weren't for the administrative help behind the scenes.

Matthew Bishop has worked tirelessly for the backbone of the volunteer network, completing more than 200 hours of administrative work for the Croydon Volunteer Bureau.

The 23-year-old has been volunteering with the Bureau since August 2000 and registered as a Millennium Volunteer in September 2000.

Matthew is involved in developing promotional leaflets for the volunteer bureau and made valuable contributions to the setting up of the new V-Base system (NABX national database) on a local level, and used his IT skills to help set up the networking system within the VB.

Matthew has given many hours at Croydon Volunteer Bureau. He is a very pleasant young man and is willing to do all types of voluntary work asked of him.

He continues to give up his free time and is also looking for a full time job using the skills he has learnt while he has been volunteering.

December 20, 2001 11:00