Five-year-old Amelia has hit international stardom as a photograph of her (below right) was picked as part of the Duchess of Cambridge’s ‘Hold Still’ digital photo project.
Kate Middleton picked 100 photos out of 31,000 to be part of a special exhibition to represent life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amelia’s photograph was featured in magazines, newspapers and on the television across the world.
We caught up with her mum Wendy to find out more…
Tell us about Amelia
Amelia is five year old and is from Liverpool. Amelia is a little social butterfly who loves being with family and friends and meeting new people. She spreads so much love and joy wherever she goes and has such a positive effect on people. It’s a privilege to watch. She loves pretend play and playing with water, but hates being messy – which mummy is happy about!! Amelia attends mainstream school which she loves as she’s very sociable and loves being with her friends. Amelia loves to sing, dance, read books and she also loves to learn. She is the heart of our family.
When did you take the winning photo and why was Amelia dressed as a nurse?
I raise awareness on social media about Down’s syndrome via Amelia May Changing Attitudes. It was International Nurses Day and I wanted to put a post on to thank all the nurses for the amazing work they do, not just through the pandemic but every day. Amelia has seen a lot of nurses in her short life and has two very close family members who are both nurses, therefore it was something I was very keen to do. I made Amelia a paper nurses outfit and took her photo in our kitchen. I posted it on social media and a couple of Amelia’s followers suggested I submit it to the #holdstill2020 project, which I did. The outcome has just been amazing.
How did you feel when your photo was chosen out of thousands to feature in the exhibition?
We were absolutely delighted when we found out and could not believe that such an innocent photo had been chosen out of over 31,000 photos that were submitted to the project. The pride we feel seeing our little girl included in the exhibition is immense but the icing on the cake has got to be finding out that Amelia’s photo was one of only six photos shown to her Majesty the Queen. We were absolutely speechless.
What has having Amelia’s photo in the exhibition meant to your family?
Amelia’s photo being chosen by the Duchess of Cambridge as one of the final 100 in the exhibition has meant the absolute world to us as a family. The pride we feel every time we see her little face popping up on the TV, on social media, in papers, in magazines and on the internet is immense and to think that Amelia has made history in such an iconic historical event, not only for herself and us as a family but also as a representative for the Down’s syndrome community, is such an honour that we will cherish forever. The support we have received from the public has blown us away. We have had so many lovely messages and well wishes for Amelia which has shown us just how much love, support, acceptance and inclusion there is out there.
What do you think it has meant to the Down’s syndrome community?
We all know there can be a lot of negativity in the world regarding Down’s syndrome and I think a good news story such as this one gives us all a real boost. It helps raise so much positive awareness for our community and shows the world how amazing our children are. It means acceptance and inclusion and shows our community how much love and support there is for our children but more importantly it shows that our children have every right to make their mark in history along with everyone else, and Amelia has definitely made hers.
What are your hopes and ambitions for Amelia as she grows up?
Our biggest hope for Amelia is that she is happy and that she is given every opportunity to live her best life with love, support, acceptance and inclusion always surrounding her.
Amelia has had an amazing lockdown starting with her submission to the #holdstill2020 project appearing on William and Kate’s Instagram story back in May. This then lead to Gaby Roslin following Amelia and giving ‘shout outs’ to her during her live Instagram chats with Paul O’Grady, Deborah James and Tamzin Outhwaite. Amelia also appeared in Gary Barlow’s lockdown video called ‘This Calls for Love’ which was shown on Good Morning Britain and in the same week she appeared on This Morning as part of a video for Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield from the Wouldn’t Change A Thing Ambassadors.
Finding out Amelia was a finalist in the #holdstill2020 project and was one of six photos shown to the Queen has been the perfect ending to Amelia’s lockdown journey and one we will cherish forever.
Congratulations to Amelia!
The Hold Still project can be seen here.
