2026: New Year Youth Honours: Congratulations to:
This brings the running total YVH #Campaign4YouthRecognition’s Youth Honours List (Case Studies) to 75. The campaign identifies and recognises those young people whose exceptional contributions to public life makes them inspiring role models for others to follow. The stories of those aged up to 30 in the UK, are shared in the Case Study list to inspire more nominations for either the Honours lists and you can find links and tips here. Or consider three other national awards schemes – the Diana, Pride of Britain, and British Youth Citizen Awards. Whilst the full King’s New Years Honours list of all ages will include others excelling in sport, arts and business, this list only recognises those whose citation references social action/campaigning/community benefit. Nominate now for next year!
The YVH Youth Honours List Summary 2012 – 2026
.. 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. Please use the contact us form to update of any new names we are not aware of. The number of young people honoured peaked in 2022 at 16, which is still just a tiny fraction of hundreds honoured every year, so #NominateNow!
Annual Totals: 2026 =2 names to date, 2025 = 5 names, 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.
2025
- Carmela Chillery-Watson MBE (11), including fundraising for Muscular Dystrophy UK
- Daniel Swift MBE (28), services to the arts and to people with disabilities.
- Georgia Harrison MBE (30) for her campaigning/work on online privacy and cyber crime
- Mikayla Beames BEM (18) including fundraising efforts through her charity, Team Mikayla, which grants wishes for children with cancer.
- Rebecca Clarke BEM (20) for her services to young people with disabilities and autism
2024
- Namir Chowdury (25) MBE, 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.
- Shamza Butt BEM, (20) for services to young people, including her national work as a member of the National Citizen Service (NCS) Youth Forum.
- Tony Hudgell BEM (9) 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
- Louis Johnson BEM (17) 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.
2023
- Jay Frood BEM (18) inc 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.
- Joe Seddon BEM (26) for services to social mobility, founder of Zero Gravity, a tech company that supports low-income students into university and careers. Former trustee of the British Youth Council.
- George Imafidon MBE (27) for services to young people (as well as engineering and technology) because of his work through a grassroots social enterprise which he co-founded – Motivez.
- Dara McAnulty BEM (18) for his environmental work and help for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
- Elliott Lancaster MBE (25) for services to youth empowerment and sustainability. As well as being the creator of a project called Utter Rubbish, inventing an app enabling the public to report fly-tipping.
- 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.
2022
- Naomi Lea BEM (23) Cardiff, Services to young people #YouthVoice champion, volunteer campaigner and trustee, StepUpToServe/ and #iwillcampaign/movement for youth social action, and co founder of ProjectHope during Covid19
- 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
- Patrick Cantellow BEM (23) Kent, #YouthVoice champion, volunteer campaigner and services to former #iwillcampaign ambassador, especially on youth employment, and board member of Youth Employment UK,
- Elena Evans-Guillen BEM (11) and Ruben Evans-Guillen BEM (11) twins, for raising nearly £50,000 directly for the NHS and NHS-related charities over the past three years.
- Alex Griffiths BEM (22), for supporting carers, having been a young carer himself since the age of 5;
- 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.
- Amy Meek BEM (18) and 9/ Ella Meek BEM (16) For voluntary service to the Natural Environment: Sisters Amy and Ella founded the Kids Against Plastic campaign. They have collected over 98,000 pieces of discarded plastic.
- 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
- Nina Kayoko Andersen BEM (18) For services to the community 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.
- Alice Jackson BEM (21) For services to the community in Hampshire during Covid-19 : Enlisting a small group of friends as local volunteers, checking local needs and carefully advertising the group’s abilities and willingness to help those trapped in isolation.
- 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.
- Hamaad Ali Karim BEM (22) For voluntary service to Students and the Wider Community during COVID-19: Student Mentor. Also involved in a wide variety of other charitable initiatives, notably We Create Change,to help better educate people on the issues facing ethnic minorities globally.
- Emma Beauchamp BEM (24) For services to Apprenticeships and Skills: Chair, North East Young Apprenticeship Ambassador Network since March 2020.
- 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
- Amika George MBE (21) for her period poverty campaign with Clegg
- 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)
- Samah Khalil BEM (20) Young Mayor of Oldham, youthvoice, participation and representation.
2020
- 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
- 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
- Yusuf Patel MBE, 25, is now an MBE for services to community cohesion and interfaith in Redbridge.
- Jack Marshall BEM, 21, disability advocate
- Hannah Phillips BEM, 24, for services to charity
- Kaiya Swain BEM (25) for services to the World Skills Competition.
- Amelia Collins-Patel MBE (22) for her services to young people, including volunteering for Project Hope @ylprojecthope,
- Marcus Rashford MBE (22) for his campaigning on free school meals
- Theo Wride BEM (16) for making PPE during Covid crisis
- John Challenger BEM (17) for his service to young people, particularly his coordinating role at Sea Cadets.
2019: 4
- 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
- Anna Rose Barker MBE (age 28) for services to young people including being a former Chair of the British Youth Council
- Richard Collins BEM (age 17) Asperger’s Support
2018
- Lucia Mee BEM (age 18) an organ donation campaigner from Northern Ireland
- Tyler Murphy BEM(age 22), who set up the Tyler’s Trust to support others who share his brain-tumour condition.
2017
- Jeremiah Emmanuel BEM (age 18) 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 ).
- Devan Witter BEM (age 19) who was winner for founding antibullying campaign Action Against Bullying.
2016
- Jonjo Heuerman BEM (13) was the youngest yet, to receive a BEM, having raised more than £235,000 for Cancer Research UK’s Bobby Moore Fund.
2015 – None Known
2014
- 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
- 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
- Alice Pyne BEM (16) and Milly Pyne BEM (13) sisters 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.
- Robyn Keeble MBE (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 young people in London.
- Ashley Sweetland MBE (28) for services to young people and youth participation, such as the UK Youth Parliament, where he 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
When he died in 2015, Bernard Davis BEM still held the record as the youngest person ever to be awarded a BEM. 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 young recipients (13) 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/Kings 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 is not published in the Honours list, and not all people agree to publicity. I’ve 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 I’ve 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.