THE dedicated professionals who work tirelessly to safeguard youngsters across North Yorkshire have been honoured for their work.

A special awards ceremony recognising their work was held at the county’s police headquarters in Newby Wiske, near Northallerton.

The event, which was the first of its kind in the area, was jointly organised by the Safeguarding Children Boards for both North Yorkshire and the City of York.

Its aim was to highlight the work that goes into protecting children from sexual exploitation and other forms of abuse.

Among those who received awards in a ceremony were social workers, NSPCC volunteers and staff, police and community support officers, local authority staff and NHS nurses.

The chairman of the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Board, Professor Nick Frost, praised the work of all those involved.

"The awards were a chance to highlight and recognise the excellent working relationships across a range of statutory and non-statutory partners, enabling us to safeguard our children in line with nationally-recognised best practice,” he said.

His counterpart for the York board, Simon Westwood added: “The citations at these awards are testament to the excellent partnership work that goes on to safeguard children, showing that we are all committed to protecting the most vulnerable people in our society."

The police’s head of operations, Chief Superintendent Simon Mason said: “We are active partners in both local Safeguarding Children Boards - and such is the importance we attach to child protection, Chief Constable Dave Jones represents us on both those boards."