RSBC celebrates its young people at AQA Awards ceremony

The winner of the prestigious Pamela Wright Award was also announced at the event.

A celebration of the 98 blind and partially sighted young people who achieved AQA awards took place in a joyful virtual ceremony hosted by RSBC on Saturday 19th October 2025.

It was the first year of online hosting for us – previously, the annual ceremony has been attended in person. But, as more and more young people from across England and Wales are now achieving AQA awards through RSBC’s regional activities and online groups, going online helped everyone to have the same shared experience.

AQA is a leading national awarding body. Its Unit Award Scheme allows young people to earn formally recognised qualifications in areas of specific interest to them, earning awards by taking part rather than through assignments or essays. The scheme builds confidence and helps individual learning journeys progress.

316 AQA unit awards were given out at the ceremony, which was attended by the young people themselves alongside RSBC Board of Trustees Chair Patrick Plant and trustees Peter Knott and Lola Solebo, as well as colleagues from across the charity.

The Pamela Wright Award

A key moment in the ceremony was the announcement of the winner of the Pamela Wright Award, which celebrates a young person for their outstanding achievement during their vision impairment journey, where RSBC has also been part of that journey.

The nominees for the award were:

Alejandro

Aleks

Ember

Hanis and Hirad

Nailah

Nyla

Paris

Rafferty

Scarlett

Zac

 

And the winner of the Pamela Wright Award was…Nailah!

Pictured at the top of this blog, Nailah was nominated by several RSBC staff members. She’s very sporty, with a huge passion for blind football, and attends a broad range of RSBC activities in-person and online, including Sisterhood, Bloomsbury Football, Big Saturday and Palace for Life.  

The team feels that Nailah has come out of her comfort zone this year and is giving things a go, doing everything to the best of her ability and making steady progress in getting the word out about blind football.

Nailah wrote an article about her experience and shared this in a Sisterhood session to encourage others to get involved. She has inspired so many of the Sisterhood members to follow their dreams, not give up and seek out ways to follow their passions through finding accessible ways to pursue them. She’s a very positive role model for many of our young people. Well done, Nailah!

 

The final word, from our Director of Services

Carla Rose-Hardman commented, “It’s incredible how prepared children and young people with vision impairments are to embrace new learnings and experiences. The AQA Unit Award Scheme is a fun and unique way to record their achievements when they take part in our activities, groups and events.

“Every AQA award presented at the ceremony is a sign of their commitment to learning, and we’re so proud of the young people who received awards today.”