The #Campaign4YouthRecognition’s YVH Youth Honours list identifies and celebrates young changemakers as worthy role models in an effort to inspire more nominations. Who will be the 74th name on the list to date? Check back on 1st January to find out …. If you spot any other we don’t know about – please let us know asap!
The list includes children and young people between the ages of 9 -30 across the UK, and is compiled from research and media coverage. Published twice a year to coincide with the New Year’s and Birthday Honours, it is updated regularly as we hear about new names*. It peaked in 2022 at 16 (just a tiny fraction of over 2000 honoured every year, so check our resources/advice pages and #NominateNow!
Annual Totals: 2026 ? , 2025 = 5, 2024 = 4 names, 2023 = 7, 2022 = 16, 2021 = 14, 2020 = 11, 2019 = 4, 2018 = 2, 2017 = 2, 2016 = 1, 2015 = none known, 2014 = 1, 2013 = 1, 2012 = 5. Read their stories below, be inspired, and nominate now!
- * Note the list doesn’t currently include those excelling in sport and the arts unless the citation includes social action/campaigning.
2026: ? Update due 1/1/2026!
2025: 5 x honoured (3 Birthday and 2 New Year )
Carmela Chillery-Watson MBE, who at just 11 years old has become the youngest ever person to be awarded an MBE for her fundraising for Muscular Dystrophy UK, including through a challenge in Cornwall. (Image: Muscular Dystrophy UK/PA) She travelled across 30 different locations in four counties: Cornwall, Somerset, Wiltshire and Surrey.
Daniel Swift MBE (28), who set up the Concrete Youth charity in 2019 when he was 22! was awarded a MBE for services to the arts and to people with disabilities.
Georgia Harrison MBE (30) for her campaigning/work on online privacy and cyber crime (former Only Way Is Essex and Love Island star was herself a victim of revenge porn and dedicated herself to campaigning against violence against women and girls.
LATEST>>>> updates asap
Mikayla Beames BEM, 18, from Oxfordshire, is the youngest to receive an honour in the list this year. She was honoured with a British Empire Medal (BEM) for her charitable fundraising efforts through her charity, Team Mikayla, which grants wishes for children with cancer. Mikayla, who has been battling brain cancer since she was four, started the charity at the age of eight. Mikayla had previously won a BBC Make a Difference Award This Christmas the charity delivered more than £2,000 worth of books and toys to children’s hospital wards in Oxford, Bristol, Leicester and Nottingham.
Rebecca Clarke BEM, 20, from Wimbledon, received a British Empire Medal (BEM) for her services to young people with disabilities and autism as part of her work with the National Citizen Service (NCS)’s Youth Advisory Board where she was first a member of the Youth Voice Forum. She is also Vice-Chair of the charity Whizz Kidz ‘Kidz’ Board and sits on the Council for Disabled Children’s youth board, and is on the Ambitious About Autism youth council. [WhizzKidz) Rebecca Clarke, Vice-chair of Kidz Board Awarded British Empire Medal in New Year’s Honours | Whizz Kidz
2024: 4 x honoured
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Birthday Honours (June 24)
Namir Chowdury MBE (25) for services to young people in the UK and overseas, notably his current role as elected representative for Europe and the Americas to the Commonwealth Youth Forum. This followed an impressive track record of service in youth representation, firstly as an elected member of the UK Youth Parliament for Walsall, before being elected to UKYP national Steering Committee. He has taken on many other roles at a national level, COP 27 and Cop 28 coordinator, climate change and diversity champion. See Namir R. Chowdhury MBE | LinkedIn
Shamza Butt BEM (20) for services to young people, including her national work as a member of the National Citizen Service (NCS) Youth Forum. She started out as a campaigner on an NCS programme – championing work on anti-bullying, unwanted sexual harassment, supported by the National Citizen Service, and as a member of the Peer Action Collective on anti-knife crime. – Shamza Butt BEM | LinkedIn
New Years (Jan24)
Tony Hudgell BEM, at aged 9, is believed to be the youngest ever to receive an royal honour. Tony, from Kent, has been recognised with BEM for services to the prevention of child abuse. A double amputee due to injuries inflicted by his birth parents co-founded the Tony Hudgell Foundation and helped raise more than 1.8m for charity, supporting and helping many other children in need of wheelchairs and vital equipment. His first challenge event was inspired by Captain Tom Moore during the Covid lockdown. He inspired “Tony’s Law”, which updated guidelines on sentencing for people convicted of child cruelty. He has also won a British Citizen Youth Award in 2022 and met the Princess of Wales at the opening of a new children’s surgery unit at Guys Hospital.
Louis Johnson BEM, 17, is from Wolverhampton and was recognised with a BEM for his track record of fundraising, starting when he was 11 when he went with his mum to take part in Barnardo’s fundraising walks. He personally raised £20,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital and then for his Nans hospice. He told the BBC that he plans to continue in 2024 ‘to raise more money to make a bigger difference’. Louis has received numerous awards for his fundraising efforts, including being named Midlands Air Ambulance young fundraiser of the year in 2017.
2023: 7
Jay Frood BEM aged 18, receives a BEM (British Empire Medal) for his work in campaigning against bullying after being bullied himself when he was younger because he was a dancer. He created the #BoysCanDance anti-bullying social media campaign. He was backed by well-known figures including Diversity’s Ashley Banjo, which in turn led to him being invited to Downing Street to talk to MPs. ‘Junior’ Jo a student in Liverpool is the youngest member to receive an Honour in this list.
Joe Seddon BEM, aged 26, for services to social mobility. He is the founder of Zero Gravity, a tech company that supports low-income students into university and careers. He is also a champion of #youthvoice and former trustee of the British Youth Council. “t’s been an incredible journey so far scaling the @zerogravity platform from mentoring 150 to 8,000+ students from low-opportunity backgrounds into top universities”.
George Imafidon MBE, aged 27, honoured for his services to young people (as well as engineering and technology) because of his work through a grassroots social enterprise which he co-founded – Motivez. It brings together young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and employers looking to attract diverse talent. He is also a champion of STEM education (science, tech, engineering and maths . “Massive thank you to whoever nominated me.. and family, friends, mentors and partners for putting your trust in us and supporting our work @motivez_uk over the 8 years The marathon continues”
Dara McAnulty BEM (18) for his environmental work and help for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Dara’s award comes after several years of environmental activism as well as prizes for his writing about the natural world. He was 16 when he won the Wainwright Prize for nature writing for his book Diary of a Young Naturalist.
Elliott Lancaster MBE (25) for services to youth empowerment and sustainability. As well as being the creator of an project called Utter Rubbish, inventing an app which enables the public to report fly-tipping, check on bin collections and find out more about recycling. He is a trustee of One Young Voice, Spirit of Peace, the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and the Wolfpack Project.
Kieron Moir MBE (29) for services to young people, Scout Leader who was Vice Chair of the UK Board of Trustees.
Bethan Stimpson BEM (27) for services to young people. As Head of the Commonwealth Games legacy project she co-designed the first Commonwealth Games mini-volunteering programme and established Gen22 for 16–24-year-olds in 2021, with the programme now helping 1,000 young people to put their social action ideas into practice, and developing skills across digital, creative and physical activity projects. The Shropshire Star reported that she had “successfully won more than £1 million in funding, and established partnerships which are set to continue beyond the games.”
2022: 16
1/ Naomi Lea BEM (23) Cardiff #YouthVoice champion, volunteer campaigner and trustee, StepUpToServe/ and #iwillcampaign/movement for youth social action, and co founder of ProjectHope and services to young people particularly during Covid19; 2/ Katrina Lambert BEM (21) Edinburgh, #YouthVoice champion, for services to young people, trustee (Volunteering England) and lately co-Chair Back Youth Alliance services to young people (You can read Katrina’s interview by Young Voices Heard in 2020 as part of our PowerofYouth series); 3/ Patrick Cantellow BEM (23) Kent, #YouthVoice champion, volunteer campaigner and services to former #iwillcampaign ambassador, (You can read Patrick’s interview by Young Voices Heard in 2020 as part of our PowerofYouth series) young people, especially on youth employment, and board member of Youth Employment UK, 4/ & 5/ Elena Evans-Guillen BEM and Ruben Evans-Guillen BEM (11 year old twins) for raising nearly £50,000 directly for the NHS and NHS-related charities over the past three years, and who are the youngest recipients on the List. 6/ Alex Griffiths BEM (22), who receives a BEM for supporting carers, having been a young carer himself since the age of 5; 7/Tobias Weller BEM (11) For services to Charitable Fundraising during Covid-19. In March 2020, inspired by national treasure Sir Captain Tom Moore, Tobias, age 10, with Cerebral Palsy and Autism, embarked on his own mission to complete a marathon. With the help of his walker he walked the length of his street in Sheffield everyday throughout lockdown. He set up a Just Giving page raising money for his two favourite local charities, including Sheffield Children’s Hospital where he was born. He exceeded his initial target of raising £500, successfully reaching the £100,000.00 fundraising mark shortly after finishing his first marathon. He then completed a second Marathon using a race runner, before presenting his charities with a cheque for £150,000.00.; 8/ Amy Meek BEM (18) and 9/ Ella Meek BEM (16) For voluntary service to the Natural Environment: Volunteer sisters Amy and Ella , over the past six years have been committed to communicating the message to reduce plastic use to a wide audience, and in particular, young people. They founded the Kids Against Plastic campaign. They have collected over 98,000 pieces of discarded plastic.; 10/ Max Woosey BEM (12) For services to Fundraising for the North Devon Hospice during Covid-19. A member of the Scouts Beaver & Cubs, Max, at the age of 10, decided to camp out for lockdown to raise money for the North Devon Hospice which had cared for his 74 year old neighbour who died of Cancer in March 2020. Before he died his neighbour gifted this tent to him telling him to make sure he had an adventure in it and he did. His initial fundraising goal was £100 and he initially planned to camp out until he reached that. He decided to go for a year and raised over £570,000 for the North Devon Hospice. He then organised a worldwide campout for children to celebrate overcoming a year of Covid. This saw nearly 2,000 children around the world join him in camping out, raising awareness that many children across the globe have found lockdown and Covid tough to cope with. He has received numerous awards such as a gold Blue Peter badge, Point of Light Award, a Pride of Britain Award, and an Unsung Hero Award from Chief Scout, Bear Grylls; 11/ Nina Kayoko Andersen BEM (18) For services to the community in Wandsworth, London during Covid-19. She single-handedly linked almost 70,000 school children from primary schools in London, Edinburgh and Dublin as well as schools over 20 different countries internationally with care homes in their areas. The project was called Community Senior Letters, encouraging children to write letters and send pictures to care home residents to bring a smile to their faces during the darkest days of lockdown, with the aim to reduce loneliness and isolation; 12/ Alice Jackson BEM (21) For services to the community in Hampshire during Covid-19 : At the start of the Covid-19 lockdown she had to leave university campus and return home to her rural community in Wiltshire, comprising a population of around two hundred and fifty, often elderly people. Enlisting a small group of friends, she quickly became the leading member of a tight-knit group of local volunteers, checking local needs and carefully advertising the group’s abilities and willingness to help those trapped in isolation; 13/ Sahil Usman BEM (16) For services to the community during Covid-19: In 2018, Sahil was diagnosed with Leukaemia. He decided to both raise awareness about the condition in children and to help others. During Covid-19 lockdown he made 300 hampers and delivered them to local elderly people. He spent his own money to buy Christmas gifts, gloves and hats for other patients on his ward; which he continued for two years. 14/ Hamaad Ali Karim BEM (22) For voluntary service to Students and the Wider Community during COVID-19: Student Mentor. He helped students and graduates (especially from underprivileged backgrounds, to gain key employability skills. Outside the Covid-19 pandemic he is also involved in a wide variety of other charitable initiatives, notably We Create Change, a platform created at the start of this year to help better educate people on the issues facing ethnic minorities globally; 15/ Emma Beauchamp BEM (24) For services to Apprenticeships and Skills: Chair, North East Young Apprenticeship Ambassador Network since March 2020; 16/ Omair Ali Shah BEM (25) For services to the community in Barking and Dagenham, Greater London during Covid-19, especially to support the most vulnerable members of society – the elderly and those deemed at increased risk of contracting Covid-19.
2021: 14
Amika George MBE (at 21 the youngest in this group) and Clegg Bamber MBE (25) for their period poverty campaigns; Raheem Sterling MBE* (26) Race equality campaigner and charity founder ; Rhys Mallows BEM (25) Covid equipment innovator ; Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson BEM (27) for services to young people. Molly Stear BEM (23) founded Mollys Meals in response to Covid; Atif Ali BEM (26) Covid community volunteer; Craig Browne BEM (28), charity fundraiser and community volunteer ; Christopher Edwards BEM (28) for services to and role model of disability in sport ; Kiera Byland BEM (23) for services to special needs in sport, Special Needs Olympic competitor and Gold medal winner; Carl Konadu BEM (28),for supporting and empowering young people (CEO and co-founder of 2-3 Degrees as a youthled start up); Rhammel Afflick BEM (26), Community for work in London, including Director of Comms for PRIDE (Comms lead at the British Youth Council); Alex Anderson BEM (20) for charity work/raising awareness and challenging labels of young people on the Autism Spectrum ASD (Air Cadet) and Samah Khalil BEM (20) Young Mayor of Oldham, youthvoice, participation and representation.
2020: 11
In the 2020 New Year’s Honours list Matthew Otubu BEM (age 24) former member of the Youth Parliament for services to young people in the UK and Africa, Ibrahim Yousaf BEM (13), for fundraising for cancer research, joined the inspiring Mete Coban MBE (age 27) for establishing My Life My Say, giving youth-voice an effective platform on Brexit, as well as campaigning for young voter-registration. In addition, Yusuf Patel MBE, 25, is now an MBE for services to community cohesion and interfaith in Redbridge; and BEMs for disability advocate Jack Marshall BEM, 21, Hannah Phillips BEM, 24, for services to charity, and finally Kaiya Swain BEM, 25, for services to the World Skills Competition. In the summer three more names were added to mark the Queens Birthday, making 2020 a record breading year. Amelia Collins-Patel MBE (22) for her services to young people, including volunteering for Project Hope @ylprojecthope, who have launched their own Young Peoples Honours List at the end of 2020; Marcus Rashford MBE (22) for his campaigning on free school meals, and Theo Wride BEM (16) for making PPE during Covid crisis, and John Challenger BEM (17) for his service to young people, particularly his coordinating role at Sea Cadets.
2019: 4
MBEs were awarded to Saeed Atcha MBE (22), activist, former trustee of Step Up To Serve and founder of Explode magazine; and to the CEO of Patchwork Foundation; Imran Sanaullah MBE (age 26) engaging young people from minorities in politics, and Anna Rose Barker MBE (age 28) for services to young people including being a former Chair of the British Youth Council. And a BEM to Richard Collins BEM (age 17, Asperger’s Support)
2018: 2
Lucia Mee BEM (age 18) an organ donation campaigner from Northern Ireland and Tyler Murphy BEM(age 22) who set up the Tyler’s Trust to support others who share his brain-tumour condition.
2017: 2
Jeremiah Emmanuel BEM (age 18) was someone I knew from his work in setting up the ‘One Big Community’ anti-knife crime campaign at the age of 13, and then as Lambeth’s rep to the UK Youth Parliament, was changemaker ). He joined Devan Witter BEM (age 19) who was winner for founding antibullying campaign Action Against Bullying.
2016: 1
Jonjo Heuerman BEM (13) having raised more than £235,000 for Cancer Research UK’s Bobby Moore Fund.
2015 – None Known
2014: 1
Rosina St James BEM (23) a former trustee and Chair of the British Youth Council, Rosina St James (age 23) was awarded a BEM for her work on Health and Wellbeing for young people.
2013: 1 (returned in 2020)
Anisa Hagdadi BEM for founding Beatfreeks, an award-winning social enterprise engaging young people in arts, training and leadership opportunities. Returned the medal in 2020 in protest at the word ’empire’.
2012: 5
Teenage sisters Alice Pyne BEM (16) and Milly Pyne BEM (at 13 the youngest yet) are awarded British Empire Medals for their services to charity. Alice was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma and she and her sister have worked tirelessly to raise money to aid research into the disease and “Alice Escapes” charity ; Robyn Keeble MBE, age 21, for services to community activism and youth empowerment – worked with other young people to set up ‘SW!TCH ID’ to encourage young people to make a positive contribution in their local community; Christopher Preddie OBE 24 – services to youth people in London; and Ashley Sweetland MBE age 28, for services to young people and youth participation, such as the UK Youth Parliament where he was was both a trustee and interim Exec Director.
This list was only researched from 2012 when children started to appear regularly. There may well be others before this date like Bernard Davis BEM who held the record, until his death in 2015, for being the youngest aged 16!
1949: 1
Bernard Davis BEM at 16, held the record as the youngest person ever to be awarded a BEM until 2012. In 1949, at the age of 16, Bernard risked his life in rescuing a 3-year-old girl from a window ledge in a bomb-damaged block of flats in 1949 near Borough Market. I’m sure the impact of the award was celebrated at the time, but although few will recognise Bernard’s name today, the impact of that heroic action lasted a lifetime for the little girl whose life he saved, when Bernard literally ‘stepped up’ to serve. Since then several even younger recipients have been honoured but none for saving a life.
Campaign for Youth Recognition
I hope that in sharing the examples of younger winners its prompts us all to think of others who would deserve to be recognised and to do something about it. Nominate! Not just nationally, but locally too, there are lots of other awards and ways to recognise young people. I have made it one of my annual New Year Resolutions to campaign for more young leaders and #youthvoice champions to be recognised in general and nominated for Queens Honours in particular, and started this campaign for youth recognition in 2017. Publishing this list is part of that effort.
“Do something amazing – why not not nominate someone amazing! Not just for these national awards but for one of the many other national or local awards out there.” #nominatetoday” http://www.gov.uk/honours. James Cathcart, Director Young Voices Heard.
Commentary – too young? Giving awards to those so young, especially those under 20, is not without its critics who argue that early one-off achievements or short-term volunteering are not comparable with a lifetime of service, and might be better suited to being nominated for the Pride of Britain awards or Points of Light Awards (from the Prime Minister). However that doesn’t take account of the future potential that such recognition will help to sustain, the increased likelihood of more opportunities coming the way of winners, and marking these young leaders as flagbearers of a new generation and shapers of all of our futures.
The Honours lists are the nations highest level of recognition, with massive media and local community coverage. Yet only a handful of young people under 30 are recognised each year from the average of 2000 awards. Setting aside celebrities, music and sports stars who well known already, this highest number of awards Ive discovered so far was in 2022 when only 16 (out of over 2000) were young people.
Comment – ’empire’ or ‘excellence’? Some young people have reservations about accepting an award because they either feel they don’t deserve it, or object to the negative association with the word ‘Empire’ although, to my knowledge, no young person has publicly refused an award. There is a group of older people who have turned down or returned awards for a range of reasons, not just to protest ’empire’ but because they are simply not interested in, or value the recognition. There is also a group, who, whilst accepting awards, campaign to change the wording of the Queen’s awards from ‘Excellence’ not ‘Empire’ and several young people in the list below have joined this campaign, including Amika George MBE (21) who explains in an article for Vogue on why she ‘nearly rejected the honour’. N [Previous winners Anna Barker and Rhammel Afflick have also signed up as supporters to the #excellentnotempire campaign, and Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson, a new winner like Amika has written about it – making a total of 4 that we are aware of – please contact below to update].
Note: *The list of young people in this blog are either those that I have known personally or have come across through their work. There are probably more but age if not published in the Honours list, and not all people agree to publicity. Ive not included those who have been recognised for their achievements in the sport and the arts alone. Anyone reading this article who knows of nationally “Honoured” young people Ive overlooked, please get in touch. JC
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Other “Young Voices Heard” Campaigns
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- To campaign for a FT Youth Minister and Youth Policy Advisory Panel, to develop and coordinate Youth Strategy and policy.
- To encourage more young people to apply and be appointed as Trustees/Directors, and for Boards to recruit/include them as normally as they would any other demographic or minority that adds value to governance, for their skills, perspective and network rather than their tokenistic representation. The stats are poor and hardly changed over the last 15 years.
- To challenge stereotypical and ill-informed attitudes towards young people that block their potential to contribute to society as active citizens. From voting to volunteering, as doers, decision-makers, campaigners and representatives, young people have skills, networks and energy that could add value to communities, boardrooms and even parliament. Lets listen, work with and invest in young people.