The Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards Winners 2022
The Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards 2022 took place on Wednesday 27th April at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
Check out the amazing winners and their stories in each of the categories below!
Fergus Crawley, 26, Edinburgh
Category: Health & Wellbeing sponsored by Scottish Water and Young Scot of the Year
Fergus is a personal trainer who has become a crusader for mental health. He decided to open up about his mental health after struggling with it for years and this soon turned into a project to help young men open up too.
Denisha Killoh, 23, Glasgow
Category: Unsung Hero sponsored by Solace Scotland
Denisha leads the Scottish Government funded National Childhood Bereavement Project delivered by Includem. At 14, Denisha's mum died of lung cancer, and ever since she has worked to honour her mum’s legacy. As an LGBT+ woman of colour, Denisha has channelled her experiences of discrimination into roles that give under-represented communities a voice. At the age of 19, she became one of the youngest ever chairs of a national review, as Stigma Co-Chair at the Independent Care Review.
Mirren Empson, 14, Kincardine
Young Hero sponsored by XSite Braehead
Mirren helped get 15 children off a school bus safely after noticing smoke and alerting the driver who was able to evacuate everyone on board.
Sameeha Rehman, 22, North Lanarkshire
Category: Enhancing Education sponsored by Skills Development Scotland
Sameeha started her own social enterprise, Ubuntu Scotland at the age of 21. The organisation is determined to put the power into the hands of young people in education.
Mhairi McCann, 22, Inverclyde
Category: Environment sponsored by First Bus
Mhairi is the founder and CEO of Youth STEM 2030. It is an organisation with the vision to empower youth to use science, technology, engineering and maths to change the world. She has a strong belief in the positive difference young people can make to our world. And for her work, she was named one of the UK’s Top 50 Women in Sustainability in 2020.
Fusion, 19 and 16, Renfrewshire and Edinburgh
Category: Arts
Jordan Stewart and Amaranta Laing created Fusion to use their artistic talents to amplify young people in Scotland. Working with Children First, they are bringing a young person’s song to life to change and influence the justice system for victims and witnesses of crimes.
Hailey Duff, 25, Angus and Neil & Andrew Simpson, 19 & 21, Aberdeenshire
Category: Sport sponsored by sportscotland
Curling superstar Hailey was part of the British Women’s curling team which won Olympic Gold at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Team Muirhead claimed their prize by beating Japan 10-3. Despite it being her first time, Hailey and her team made history by taking Team GB's first curling gold since 2002.
Neil and Andrew Simpson delivered a stunning result at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, becoming the first British men in history to win gold on snow. Neil, who competed in the Super G vision impaired class, took to the slopes with his brother Andrew as his guide. They have achieved impressive results before. Winning gold in the slalom and bronze in the giant slalom at the 2018 Para Alpine World Cup. They also won Silver at the 2021 World Para Snow Sports Championships. Having skied since they were four years old, this gold medal is a testament to their years of hard work.
STARR, Glasgow
Category: Community sponsored by Scottish Government
STARR work tirelessly to improve the lives of children who are in or on the edges of secure care in Scotland. Found in March 2018, STARR is Scotland’s only curated space for secure care-experienced children, young people and adults.
Paul Black, 25, Glasgow
Category: Entertainment
Paul is a comedian who shot to success on TikTok with his witty videos, reaching 187,000 followers and more than 6m likes. He quickly became an internet sensation over the last 12 months with his viral videos and continues to put a smile on everyone’s face.
Lucy Fisher, 25, Aberdeenshire
Category: Enterprise
Lucy has taken a childhood passion for knitting and turned it into a business, Knit It. Lucy's gran taught her to knit, a skill that has been passed down for generations. Lucy realised the true value of preserving the art of knitting and sought to make it more accessible and understandable.
Whatever Next?, 21-26, Lothian
Category: Equality & Diversity sponsored by Arnold Clark
Three young people have started up a project to educate others on life as an adoptee. Addie, Hannah and Jo set up Whatever Next? It is a multi-media platform that explores their experience as Chinese adoptees, and adoptees in general. Their work has won them the Creative Edinburgh Student Award in 2021.
James Anderson, 18, Angus
Category: Volunteering
James has worked with Enable Scotland for years. They are a charity that fight to amplify the voices of people with learning disabilities. He has delivered disability and anti-bullying workshops to schools and youth organisations. His activism has taken him to Geneva, speaking at a United Nations conference.
Aaron Smith, 25, Stirling
Category: Rising Star
Singer Aaron has gone from busking on the streets of Falkirk to partying with Justin Bieber in LA. Hoping to inspire young people, Aaron, who has struggled with alcohol and depression, now talks openly about his mental health and overcoming his challenges.
Head back to the Young Scot Awards page.