A new awards scheme has been launched to highlight and reward the contributions of children and young people across the United Reformed Church (URC).

Organised by the URC’s Children’s and Youth Work team, the scheme will award anyone aged under 25 with a certificate, medal, and monetary prize, each month. The scheme will run for 100 months.

The first award will be presented at the URC Youth Assembly in January 2020 and is the first to be granted from funding established in memory of the Revd Robert Henry Lundie, in over 60 years.

“The amazing work done by children and young people within their churches and communities often goes unnoticed,” said Lorraine Webb, the URC’s Children's and Youth Work Programme Officer.

“This award is designed to spotlight and celebrate those children and young people who use their God-given skills, time and talents to make a difference – whether at church, in their community, in their Synod or on a wider scale. We want to acknowledge and reward them for playing their part in the mission of God, from raising awareness about climate change to regularly handing out the biscuits at the church’s club for the elderly. So, if you know one of these incredible young people, do get in touch.”

The Revd Robert Henry Lundie was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and an active advocate for national and church-led education. He served in many churches in the Liverpool area, and also as Moderator of the Presbyterian General Synod.

When he died in 1895, the Liverpool community set up a fund in his memory that provided teaching scholarships and prizes for essays about civic life and Christian character.

Though it was last presented in 1957, the first-ever Lundie award (£5 and a medal) was presented in 1903.

Today’s prize is for £100 and must be spent for the benefit of children and young people in the winner’s church or Synod.

Nominations should, for the first award, be submitted to the children’s and youth development officer (CYDO), or equivalent, in the nominee’s synod, by 29 November. Contact details for CYDOs can be found here.

Download a nomination form . For further information, email Lorraine Webb or call 020 7916 8683.

_{Published: 12 November 2019}