by Author Deborah Welch

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Skipton Rewind Songwriters win national award!

NYMAZ (North Yorkshire Music Action Zone) and North Yorkshire County Council are celebrating winning the Libraries Change Lives Award for the Skipton Rewind Club.

At a ceremony at the House of Commons on the 26 June, young representatives from Rewind were presented with a trophy and a cheque for £4,000 by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey and named the best initiative in the UK in the 2012 Libraries Change Lives Award presented by CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals).

Rewind is a creative and innovative songwriting project that has been taking place in Skipton Library since 2010. The idea for the project was generated out of the collaborative relationship between NYCC Library Services, CYC (Connecting Youth Culture) and NYMAZ, combing resources and expertise to give rurally isolated young people an opportunity to work with professional musicians, increase their musical skills and talents, develop social skills and encourage the greater use of library facilities.

Originally conceived as a 10-week course at different libraries throughout North Yorkshire, the Skipton-based project has gone far beyond original expectations and is now making a demonstrable difference to the lives of the young people. The group has now been continuing on running for 18 months, largely directed by the participants with additional input from musician Rich Huxley and Claire Thompson from Skipton Library. The group have already successfully received an O2 Think Big Grant in 2011 and the Craven-based Dragon's Den Award in 2012. The Libraries Change Lives Award will ensure the future sustainability of the group.

Six of the twenty teenage members of Skipton Rewind joined NYCC Library staff and NYMAZ at the awards event and were also given the opportunity to perform one of their original songs.  It was a great event and NYMAZ are delighted with how the young people from Rewind have used their passion and motivation to continue to carry the project forward.

"This has been a fantastic year for partnership working and innovation in the library sector," said Mr Vaizey.

Linda Constable, the Chair of Judges for the Libraries Change Lives Award, said: "This project shows what teenagers can do when encouraged, not criticised."