A CHAMPION for young people has made the shortlist in a national campaign to recognise the important work done by charity workers.

Mum-of-two Fiona Dawe, of Farnaby Road, Shortlands, has been nominated and shortlisted for the top 11 of The Alternative Rich List, organised by charity recruitment website forum3.

Rather than focussing on wealth, the list judges people by the difference they have made to others through their life experiences.

More than 150 people were initially nominated and a panel of charity experts, unable to reduce the list to 10, instead created a shortlist of 11.

Ms Dawe has been chief executive of online charity YouthNet since 2000 and has previously held positions at Volunteering England and OUTSET, a charity providing IT training for disabled people.

YouthNet runs the websites TheSite.org and Lifetracks.com to provide advice to young people and also on ways of volunteering at Do-it.org.uk The 56-year-old, who began charity work as a volunteer in 1979, said: “I’m completely amazed and delighted.

“I feel a bit of a fraud compared to all these other people who have done amazing things.

“It’s great all the work we do in the charity sector is recognised.”

She added: “I started off in marketing and thought I can’t bear doing this for the rest of my life, I thought there had to be something more important and interesting, so I became a volunteer to find out if I could work with people.”

Voting at forum3.co.uk/vote.asp closes on September 17 with three winners to be announced on September 24.