Charity based on Scottish island beats UK mainland competitors to top prize
Scottish volunteering charity Project Trust has beaten a host of competitors from across the UK to win a prize for innovation in education.
Project Trust was crowned the Community Innovation Award champion, at education accreditor One Awards prize ceremony in Durham.
The charity, which is based on the Hebridean island of Coll, has been organising long-term overseas volunteering placements for school leavers since 1967.
Project Trust's volunteers receive a One Awards Level Three Foundation Year in Global Volunteering and Citizenship certificate for completing the volunteering programme.
According to the charity, the programme is such a success, some of its volunteers have received university offers conditional on them completing it.
Winning the prize is a reflection of the hard work I put in, but more importantly is recognition of the importance of the stories women in India have to tell
Ingrid Emerson MBE, Project Trust's chief executive, said: "Project Trust is delighted to receive this award, and it is testament to the hard work of our staff and volunteers that we have done so within two years of the start of the Global Volunteering and Citizenship programme.
“The award is recognition of Project Trust's pioneering and innovative approach to the education of young people."
At the same award ceremony Project Trust volunteer Ella Mei Morrish, who volunteered as a teacher in India, was highly commended in the Community Learning Champion category.
While volunteering in India, Ella Mei produced a graphic novel, the narrative of which focussed on challenges faced by young Indian women in the community she lived in.
Ella Mei, 19, who now studies classics at the University of Manchester, said: "I'm very proud to be given this award. Í put a year of my life into creating the graphic novel, so it means a lot for it to be so well-received.
“Winning the prize is a reflection of the hard work I put in, but more importantly is recognition of the importance of the stories women in India have to tell."
