Peterborough woman who set up site highlighting sexual violence survivors stories wins top award

Lizzy Dening picked up the Media award at the Women of the Future Programme virtual ceremony last week.

She was presented with the award after setting up www.survivorstories.co.uk which is an online platform for interviews with survivors of sexual violence, in their own words.

Lizzy, who is the vice chair of the Peterborough Rape Crisis Care Group, was inspired to set up the website after initially volunteering with the charity a number of years ago.

She said: "The project was developed for many reasons, but in part because I felt there was a gap in most mainstream media coverage for telling long-form stories, as well as a sense of scale - sexual violence can, and sadly does, impact huge numbers of people from all backgrounds, ages, genders and races.

"I wanted to help share a diverse range of stories to highlight this, and help to counterbalance victim-blaming narratives. My work on the project was inspired after I began volunteering with Peterborough Rape Crisis Care Group , five years ago.

"I'm now Vice Chair of the charity, and it's been such an education and a privilege to be involved, and to understand more about the issues affecting survivors.

"I'm surprised and delighted to have won. Most survivors just want to be heard, believed and have their experiences validated, so I hope that, in its own way, this recognition for the project helps validate their bravery in sharing their stories. It's also wonderful personally, as working on the project alone can feel a bit isolating, so it's lovely to receive such a high profile morale boost!"

For more information about the Peterborough Rape Crisis Care Group visit https://www.prccg.org.uk/For more information about the Women of the Future programme visit https://womenofthefuture.co.uk/