Erin Burnham - aged 9 from Stoke-On-Trent was announced as the under 16’s winner 

Emma Lister - aged 22 from Warlingham won the 16-29 year old category

TV presenter Carrie Grant, who was diagnosed herself with Crohn’s Disease in 1983 presented the winners with trophies at the event.

Erin, who was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease aged just 7 years old, won the Under 16’s award after after she raised £1,600 for Crohn’s and Colitis UK by selling milkshakes at her school. Erin wanted to teach students about liquid diets after she had to complete the liquid diet modlen for 6 months. As well as this fundraising activity, Erin helped to raise awareness of Inflammatory Bowel Disease by organizing her whole school to go purple on World IBD Day.

Emma won the 16-29 year olds award for her fundraising swim across the Channel. Having raised £7,700 for the charity, Emma swam from Dover’s Shakespeare Beach on Friday 28 August, reaching Calais Beach 17 hrs 39 minutes later in the early hours of Saturday morning.  She was cheered on throughout the swim by her sister Katie, who has Ulcerative Colitis, and nominated Emma for the award. Emma joins an elite club of fewer than 1,500 solo swimmers to have swum the Channel and was the first person to swim it in support of our charity. 

Crohn’s and Colitis UK launched the fundraising award earlier this year in memory of Alex Demain, a staff member of the charity who sadly died in 2015, aged 29.  Diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease himself, Alex was a driving force in the charity’s fundraising team raising awareness of these debilitating conditions which affect 300,000 people in the UK. The award is made in recognition of the innovative ways a young person has fundraised for the charity and involves two categories: under 16 year olds and 16-29 year olds.