OUR final new award for 2019 also recognised the district’s start students, this time those in further education.

The Star Student - Over 16 award was presented to 17-year-old Emeli Mumford of Prince Henry’s Grammar School in Otley, for her year of fundraising and hard work for Save the Children.

After seeing a video about the plight of Rohingya refugees in Myanmar, she was inspired to write a charity single to raise money for the charity.

This project quickly snowballed into creating a music video and performing on television and at Christmas lights switch-ons with a choir of local schoolchildren, and also touring nearby schools across the Bradford district and West Yorkshire to perform and raise money.

She has so far raised more than £2,000 for charity, all while completing her GCSEs and studying for her A-Levels and volunteering as a teacher at performing arts societies.

Upon receiving her award, Emeli said: “I’m genuinely gobsmacked.

“I looked at the blurbs for the other nominees in the paper and thought, well I might as well just go home, there is no point me turning up!

“To actually win I can’t put into words how amazing it is, and to be recognised for what I did I didn’t expect it.

“I only wanted to do this for the children I would be helping so to get extra recognition is amazing.

“Helping others is what makes me get up every day, I look at motivational quotes to get me up knowing I can do something to help.

“I should be doing A-Level work but I’ll be planning my next charity project and what I can do and who I can help. I spend every waking moment thinking about how I can help other people.

“I’m so happy in myself and I’m so lucky to have everything I could ever want, and I want to help other people feel how I feel.”

Highly commended for the award were Shipley College’s Joseph Midwood and Grange Technology College’s Ramlah Qureshi.