A Year 12 student has won a national award celebrating talented LGBTQ+ young people.
Georgina W took the Role Model of the Year in the 2022 Queer Student Awards for her pioneering LGBTQ+ work at school.
Her win was announced at a glittering ceremony in Manchester at the end of June.
The Queer Student Awards are a new annual celebration recognizing talented LGBTQ+ students and allies who are proudly leading in their lives and the communities around them. The awards provide a space to show commitment towards positively addressing the adversity that LGBTQ+ youths experience every day, especially when it comes to navigating their career options and worrying about whether or not their sexuality will act as a barrier to their future success.
Judged by a panel of student recruitment industry experts, queer influencers and young people from schools, colleges and universities across the UK and Ireland, the awards are an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of apprentices, graduates and allies supporting these youths in their transition into the workplace.
Talented Georgina, who is studying for A levels in Psychology, Religious Studies and politics, set up our LGBTQIA+ club, Prism, after deciding there was no unifying space for young people who wanted to talk about these issues.
She said: “Thankyou to everyone for their support – the award meant such an incredible amount that I was beyond thrilled and so grateful. It was a wonderfully vibrant space with such brilliant people, a community that I could see myself reflected in, and I realized that that is the most important thing to feel as a young queer person – belonging – and that’s what Prism has been about building for students at Burgess Hill Girls. The warmth, fulfilment and joy of the award will only be secondary to creating that.”
Head Liz Laybourn said: “We are delighted that Georgina has achieved this. She has worked tirelessly to create our school club Prism and richly deserves this accolade. We are very proud indeed of her.”
