Youth 4 Excellence CIC with their team of seven young volunteers have organised its seventh Annual Celebrating Youth Excellence Awards ceremony to take place at the Holiday Inn, Smallbrook Queensway, Birmingham on Saturday 19 September 2015. The black tie community event will celebrate the outstanding achievements and positive contributions of young people (13-25), parents, organisations and educators across the West Midlands.

It will be hosted by Rem Conway, 21, a Birmingham award winning Actor, Writer, Director, Producer (Uncle Ben The Play), Entertainer (The Real Deal Comedy Jam), Model (Footlocker Europe) and Founder of Graft Entertainment.

Stage appearances will be made by spoken word artist Deci4Life (BBC 1Xtra Voice of the Year 2014), singer Affie Jam (support act for Angel at Cream Of The Crop Live 2015), Sam Jackson (New Street Records) and Tedx Youth Speaker and Huffington Post writer Najite Phoenix.

Among the guests on the night will be some of the West Midlands most influential corporates, community leaders and young people including Founder of Island Delight Patties Wade Lyn CBE, 24-year-old CEO of Beetfreeks Anisa Haghdadi BEM and sponsors such as Lloyds Banking Group.

Since launching in 2009, the C.Y.E Awards has been labelled ‘the best youth event’ by Jamaica National Building Society, has welcomed guest speakers such as Professional Footballer Nathan Redmond, ITV’s Genelle Aldred and has recognised the contributions of over 100 people across the West Midlands including the likes of Social Entrepreneur Jamie Dunn (award winner 2011).

Led by 21-year-old Talisha Johnson, the team of volunteers include Fashion Designers Stephen Arthur and Shara Johnson as Artist Directors, poet Jade Richards as Artist and Guest speaker Coordinator, Marie Giraud as Hospitality volunteer, Tisha Whyke as Hospitality Manager and Rem Conway has also had his hands on deck!

Executive Producer Talisha Johnson says: “I have officially been running the awards since 2012 and it has been a rollercoaster. I know I make it look easy but it certainly is not!

“On the plus side, it has been an amazing experience; I have met some great people in the community and made some really good friends with young volunteers across the city who work incredibly hard to help me make the event a success.

“The awards have made me appreciate Birmingham for its amazing talent, exceptional young people with achievements that sometimes go unrecognised by the media and I am excited to put them on a platform to shine for another year.”