A YOUTH mentor and a television star are among the finalists in a national awards scheme celebrating the best of Scotland’s young people.
Beth Catchpole and Meryl Williams will be hoping to lift prizes at the Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards on Thursday (June 8).
The awards celebrate the inspirational contributions and achievements of thousands of young people who have made a difference to communities across the country.
Twenty-year-old Beth is a peer mentor with Musselburgh-based Bridges Project.
She works tirelessly to support young people to improve their mental health, drawing on her own experience and hardships to support other care-experienced and family substance-use-affected young people.
Beth, who is in the running for the Health and Wellbeing Award, often leads conversations with mentees and has a proactive mentoring style which makes them feel comfortable opening up.
In addition to her volunteering role, Beth, from Prestonpans, secured a paid inclusion officer post with the charity Who Cares? Scotland when she was 19, engaging with care-experienced young people.
She plans to study psychology to further support others to improve their lives, showing how dedicated she is to the cause.
Meanwhile, Meryl, who lives in Haddington, was one of three winners on the BBC’s hit television series The Traitors.
The 26-year-old never entered the show to win money; instead, she wanted to see more people like her on TV to defy negative perceptions.
Meryl was the first person with dwarfism to win a reality game show and has now quit her job to focus on presenting work and journalism to break boundaries and stigma around disabilities.
She wants to continue educating about her condition and show that disabilities such as achondroplasia do not need to be barriers.
The winners will be announced next Thursday at the Platform venue in the heart of Glasgow city centre.
Kirsten Urquhart, Young Scot CEO, said: “The inspiring work of all the finalists is a testament to what the Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards are all about – recognising, championing and celebrating the achievements of Scotland’s amazing young people.
“Congratulations to all of the 2023 finalists.”
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