Five-year-old in the final for this year’s JustGiving Awards after hiking over 500 miles for children’s charity

Seren Price, 5, from South Wales has been named as a finalist in this year’s GoCardless JustGiving Awards for Creative Fundraiser of the Year after she hiked over 500-miles and raised over £7,300 for charity.

In a challenge to raise vital funds for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, Seren has become the youngest girl to complete the UK’s highest peaks challenge in under 48 hours.

Before setting off, Seren said: “I want to do something incredibly special, raising much needed funds for this worthy cause because when I was a baby, I was provided special care and I want other children to be given the same fortunate start in life.”

In extreme winter conditions, battling through snowfall and freezing temperatures, Seren successfully climbed to the top of Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdown in Wales.

However, it was on the way down from climbing their first and highest peak of the challenge, Ben Nevis, when Seren displayed even more extraordinary levels of bravery and kindness.

Seren saw a young lady exhausted and struggling to descend.

“Daddy, we need to help,” Seren said to her father before jumping right into action.

Seren helped call for rescuers, guided the way with her torch, and shared her last drink with the young woman.

Despite this exhausting experience, Seren’s determination did not waiver and she successfully went on to climb to the top of Scafell Pike before returning to Wales to summit the last peak of the challenge, Snowdon.

In her efforts to ensure other children are afforded the same medical care she was, Seren triumphantly completed the three peaks challenge, climbing to a total elevation of over 3,000 metres and raising thousands of pounds for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity.

After receiving the news that Seren had been selected as a finalist for the JustGiving Award, Seren’s father Glyn said: “It’s an honour, I am very excited that she has been put forward for this award.

“When we told Seren she had a big shy smile on her face, and she wants to say thank you to all the kind people that donated.

“Seren loves an excuse to get dressed up and wear a pretty dress, make up and accessories. It would also be lovely for the whole family to celebrate a wonderful achievement.”

Seren was first nominated by members of the public and was then selected as a finalist by a panel of judges including Radio DJ Rickie Haywood-Williams, actress Angela Griffin, longstanding fundraiser, famous for wearing a charity shop outfit every day for one year, Caroline Jones and the general manager of JustGiving, Pascale Harvie.

This is the eleventh year of the JustGiving Awards and the judges agreed that this year’s event will be an incredibly emotional yet truly inspiring evening. From more than 13,000 nominations, the judges worked hard to shortlist 21 inspiring finalists, three for each of the seven awards categories.

Pascale Harvie, President and General Manager at JustGiving said: “Our fundraisers and crowdfunders are amazing and whilst they don’t do what they do for praise and recognition, every single person like Seren deserves it.

“The ceremony is a magical evening but most importantly it’s a moment for us at JustGiving to thank, formally recognise and celebrate the individuals, groups and charities who have done extraordinary things in the interest of others.”

Members of the public now have the opportunity to vote for the fundraisers they want to see crowned for their efforts via: https://page.justgiving.com/awardsvoting2023

Seven winners as well as JustGiving’s Charity of the Year will be announced at the ceremony which takes place at London’s Roundhouse on the evening of September 25th. Winners will be presented with their official trophy by well-known faces from the world of celebrities and sport.

Previous JustGiving Award winners include Max Woosey, who was crowned 2022 Young Fundraiser of the Year for camping outside for hundreds of nights in memory of his neighbour and raising funds for North Devon Hospice.

Three dads walking were awarded Fundraising Team of the Year for raising significant awareness for suicide prevention and funds for Papyrus and the late Dame Deborah James’ family received a special recognition award after she created wide-scale awareness of Bowel cancer and its symptoms and raised millions of pounds for the Bowelbabe Fund.

Pat Phelan, MD of UK & Ireland and Chief Customer Officer at GoCardless said: “We’re proud to recognise the finalists and everyone nominated for this year’s GoCardless JustGiving Awards. We’re also grateful to all of the donors who support them. By combining the energy and enthusiasm of fundraisers like Seren with the generosity of the nation, truly amazing things can happen.”

NOTES TO EDITOR

For further information contact  press@justgiving.com

*All figures quoted include GiftAid and are accurate at the time of releasing this press release.

Figures quoted relate to fundraising activity on JustGiving only. JustGiving is one of many fundraising platforms that people can choose from when fundraising for events such as the London Marathon.

About JustGiving
JustGiving is the world’s most trusted platform for online giving. We help people raise money for the charities and people they care about the most. In 2000, JustGiving.com began with one simple goal – to enable charities to receive donations online from anywhere in the world. Fast forward 22 years and over £5 billion has been raised for good causes in almost every single country in the world.

JustGiving became part of Blackbaud, the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good in 2017.

To note – JustGiving does not charge a fee on donations but instead operates a voluntary contribution model, meaning people donating can choose to leave a ‘tip’ if they wish. The only non-optional fee is a 1.9% + 20p to cover card payment charges.