THE hard work put in by student volunteers in communities across York is set to be rewarded at an awards ceremony in the city.

Students will receive awards at the 2011 Higher York Student Volunteering Awards on May 9 at the National Centre for Early Music in the city, recognising the work put in by students from York College, Askham Bryan, York St John University and the of University of York.

At the University of York alone about 1,000 student volunteers give up 38,000 hours of their time to help York communities every year.

As part of the evening teams from the University of York will be presented with Shepherd Group Awards for Student Volunteering. In total five teams of students have been nominated by staff at the University of York to receive one of the Shepherd Awards.

Winners are chosen by the executive of the university volunteering and community committee and receive a certificate in honour of their achievements.

Teams nominated include Full Of Life, a city-wide project which seeks to tackle stereotypes of older people. Working with partner organisations including City of York Council and York Older People’s Assembly, the team has designed and launched a photographic competition to capture the best elements of the older population.

The Student Management Group of York Students in Schools (YSIS) has also been nominated for an award. The team recruits student volunteers to go into schools.