Jak Trueman, the teen who raised thousands for charity was posthumously named Young Scot of the Year

A Scots teenager who raised more than £100,000 for charity has been named as Young Scot of the Year.

Jak Trueman of West Lothian was posthumously recognised at the Young Scot awards ceremony last night.

In August 2014 Jak, aged 15, was diagnosed with gamma delta T-cell lymphoma, a rare form of cancer. He passed away in February 2015, just a few weeks after being told his cancer was terminal.

In his last few weeks Jak and his family posted regular updates on Facebook and raised money for Edinburgh Sick Kids friends Foundation, Children In Need, CLIC Sargent and Lymphoma and Leukaemia Research.

At the time of his death the total was just over £50,000 on his Just Giving page for with more being raised since, in his memory.

Words cannot describe what an honour and privilege the Young Scot Award, Young Hero Award and two standing ovations means to me as my beautiful boy’s mum

Jak was crowned Young Hero and the overall Young Scot of the Year at the Young Scot Awards.

Accepting the award, at the ceremony in Edinburgh, his mum Allison Barr described Jak as “amazing, inspirational, loving, caring, genuine, strong, awesome, talented, intelligent, just my world”.

Afterwards Allison revealed she hadn’t even been aware there was an overall award until it was announced.

She added: “What an amazing honour – I didn't even know that there was an ultimate award – it was a huge honour for Jak to win the Young Scot Young Hero Award and just as the reality dawned as to that honour they announced that they were about to announce the ultimate award of the evening the Young Scot Award.

“Words cannot describe what an honour and privilege the Young Scot Award, Young Hero Award and two standing ovations means to me as my beautiful boy’s mum.

"It's a massive honour and I'm so proud of him. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us to make Jak's dreams a reality, but this reminds us it's all worthwhile.

"I can just picture his massive smile now."

Jak’s family and friends are now raising money to build a community facility specialising in helping others in his honour.

Jak’s Den will be a purpose built facility offering professional counselling services as well as sports and drama facilities and a café for cancer sufferers and neutropenic people who can't eat out in public for fear of infection.

The Young Scot Awards, now in its 10th year, recognises the incredible achievements of remarkable young people across a range of categories.

Over 3,000 guests were wowed by performances from pop sensation Connor Maynard, Scottish band Prides and The Voice 2015 winner Stevie McCrorie.

The awards were hosted by Edith Bowman and attended by famous faces including 2015 X-Factor finalists Andrea Faustini and Only the Young. They were joined on the red carpet by Commonwealth Games Gold medallist Ross Murdoch, Geordie Shore’s Chloe Ferry and Nathan Henry, the cast from River City and 2014 X-Factor finalist Nicholas McDonald.

Louise Macdonald, chief Executive of Young Scot, said: “This year’s milestone Young Scot Awards has been the biggest celebration of Scotland’s young people to date, which is testament to the incredible work young Scots have done over the last ten years in communities across Scotland. Congratulations to winners and finalists, as well as each and every nominee for their hard work and dedication – you’ve all done us proud.

“It’s important that the hard work and dedication of every Young Scot nominee over the past ten years is carried on by other young people in communities across the country.

"It’s equally important we recognise the achievements of these inspirational young people and celebrate them every day.”