First Minister Carwyn Jones
At a glittering ceremony at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff this evening, the winners of the first St David Awards have been announced.
The awards celebrate and recognise the extraordinary achievements of people in Wales and were presented in nine different categories.
The first award to be presented was the St David Award for Innovation and Technology category and the winner was Dr Lyn Evans CBE for his work on the Large Hadron Collider project at the CERN institute in Switzerland.
The next award to be presented was the St David Award for Sport which was awarded to Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson for her achievements as a successful Paralympic athlete and her work in promoting disability sport.
The winner of the next award, the St David Award for Bravery, was Karin Williams, a crossing patrol officer at Rhws Primary School, for her act of bravery stepping in front of a car which had lost control to protect the youngsters on the crossing at the time.
The winner of the St David Award for Citizenship was Yaina Samuels, for her work in establishing her own social enterprise NU-Hi Ltd, to educate and train others about substance misuse after recovering from drug addiction herself.
The winner of the St David International Award was Bryn Terfel, a world-renowned Welsh bass-baritone who has sung in concert halls and opera houses across the globe and has done much to promote Wales and its unique culture internationally.
The winner of the St David Award for Enterprise was Robin Jones, the Managing Director of the Wrexham-based Village Bakery, a craft bakery which employs more than 250 people and supplies bakery products to many leading retailers.
The winner of the St David Award for Culture was Cerys Matthews, a successful Welsh singer/songwriter and radio broadcaster, for her promotion of Welsh music.
The winner of the St David Award for Young People was Jade Jones MBE, the reigning Olympic women’s Taekwondo champion in the 57kg category, in recognition of her as a role model for young sports people.
The winner of the First Minister’s Special Award will be announced later this evening.
First Minister Carwyn Jones said:
“The winners of these awards are exceptional people. They have done extraordinary and inspiring things and I’m proud that the Welsh Government has been able to recognise their achievements through these first-ever St David Awards.
“As well as acknowledging the winners, I’d like to recognise those finalists who did not receive an award. They have moving and motivating stories and are a credit to themselves, their families and communities. Just to be short-listed for an award such as this is a tremendous feat in itself.
“I would also like to again thank the people from across Wales who nominated individuals and groups for the Awards, without them alerting us to these stories of inspiration and success; we may not have been able to recognise these remarkable people.
“Finally, I’d like to acknowledge the support of the Awards’ sponsors, who have helped us to stage such a positive event.”
