TWO of Sidmouth s younger residents have received special recognition awards from Sidmouth Town Council s chairman.

TWO of Sidmouth's younger residents have received special recognition awards from Sidmouth Town Council's chairman.

Dan Gigg, the name behind the Giovanni youth caf� project and Caitlin Bowkett, chairman of Sidmouth Youth Council, were up for an award at the recent Devon Young Achievers Award.

Both were finalists in the community awards section, which Dan went on to win.

Councillor Peter Sullivan, at last week's monthly council meeting, presented both with special certificates and �25 cheques "to spend on what you want", in recognition of their achievements.

"Over 30 youth members from around Devon were all receiving awards," he said.

"Sometimes we perceive young people in a negative light, especially after what happened last weekend (deckchair arson attacks), but this is only a small percentage of youth in the area.

"We should be encouraging young people in recognising these achievements. They were for the whole of Devon and Sidmouth had two contenders in one category."

He thought the town council should do something for them in return.

After the presentation, watched by local youth leader Mark Gerry, Dan said: "It was so good of him, we were not even expecting it. I will probably spend the �25 on driving lessons.