STONEWALL named a Caversham student Young Campaigner of the Year at its Youth Awards ceremony on May 20.

Mitch Price, 18, was presented with the award by both Sir Ian McKellen, who co-founded the LGBT rights group, and Great British Bake Off champion John Whaite.

The Henley College pupil beat around 150 applicants to the charity’s Youth Volunteering Programme, which has helped thousands of young people develop initiatives to tackle anti-LGBT prejudice.

“I was so shocked and am so proud of the work that I did on my campaign. It has really changed my community for the better,” he said.

“I want to continue to push forward equal rights for people regardless of their sexuality or gender identity.”

Mr Price also relished the chance to meet Sir Ian, whom he found inspirational.

“Without his work on Stonewall, Britain would be a very different place,” remarked the teenager.

The Caversham resident was inspired to run the project after his experiences at his old secondary school, which he said did not deal very well with LGBT issues and rights.

Though his family and friends were supportive when he came out, Mr Price was concerned that others would not be so lucky and so wanted to promote better understanding of the struggles LGBT youths face.

“My old school didn’t create an environment where I could accept myself,” he recalled.

As well as personally delivering a PSHE presentation to 150 Year 7s at the school, his teacher training programme managed to reach 1500 students in total.

He said: “The staff were so open-minded and the Year 7s were really on board.”

Mr Price believed that although equality, diversity and inclusion policies are now widespread, difficulties remain in tackling LGBT-related issues.

“The government hasn’t provided the necessary LGBT-specific training in dealing with bullying or what to do if someone comes out as transgender for example,” he said.

“It’s not because they’re homophobic or anything, it’s because people don’t want to own up to the issue.”

Wayne Dhesi, Youth Programmes Manager at Stonewall, congratulated the young campaigner for doing an outstanding job and was thrilled that he had won the award.

He continued: “We’ve been really impressed with the entire group on this year’s programme, who have all done excellent work improving the lives of LGBT people in their schools and communities.”

Sir Ian believed that despite the progress made in tackling anti-LGBT discrimination, there was still much left to do and that the next generation had a vital part to play.

“Nothing is more important than to continue to enable young people to have a voice, their own voice: to empower themselves and their kind, however they define themselves,” he said.

What do you think can be done to make LGBT people feel safer in school environments? Share your thoughts below.