We are delighted to share a showcase of our amazing World Changer Awards Ultimate Winner, Category Winners and Runners-up.
While every single young person, student group and whole school who entered into the awards is a world changer and deserves to be celebrated in their own right, this showcase shines a light on a selection of the inspiring young people and pioneering initiatives that stole our judges’ hearts.
14-year-old Chili, responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by teaching herself a new skill - how to use an electric sewing machine. She set about making facemasks for her community and supporting a cause close to her heart - young people’s mental health.
Read more about Chili’s achievements
Drawing on her learning in textiles at school and with her grandma’s helpful instruction over FaceTime, Chili made and sold over 1,500 facemasks through her @Chilis_facemasks Instagram account, raising £4,000 for Inspire Suffolk, a local mental-health charity.
Chili’s entrepreneurial efforts helped to fund twice-weekly counselling sessions for young people struggling with their wellbeing over lockdown, as well as education and sport courses that aim to increase confidence and motivation among young people.
She is committed to continuing to make a difference and raising awareness about mental health in her cousin Harley’s memory.
Chili is an inspiration and well-deserved ‘World Changer of The Year’! She defines what a world changer is all about. She has learnt a new skill for the good of her community and used her facemasks to affect real change for a cause that is close to her heart - all while studying for her GCSEs!
Her passion, resilience, and ability to make something so positive out of a challenging time, shines through. Chili should be hugely proud of her accomplishments and the positive difference she has made to all those young people who have benefited from the support she enabled. We have no doubt she will continue to achieve great things in the future.
- Chantel Carpenter, Director at Pearson & World Changer Awards Judge
14-year-old Chili, responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by teaching herself a new skill - how to use an electric sewing machine. She set about making facemasks for her community and supporting a cause close to her heart - young people’s mental health.
Drawing on her learning in textiles at school and with her grandma’s helpful instruction over FaceTime, Chili made and sold over 1,500 facemasks through her @Chilis_facemasks Instagram account, raising £4,000 for Inspire Suffolk, a local mental-health charity.
Chili’s entrepreneurial efforts helped to fund twice-weekly counselling sessions for young people struggling with their wellbeing over lockdown, as well as education and sport courses that aim to increase confidence and motivation among young people.
She is committed to continuing to make a difference and raising awareness about mental health in her cousin Harley’s memory.
NSCG Stafford College 2nd Year Graphic Design Students
As part of a city-wide campaign to #keepstokesmiling, BTEC Graphic Design students from NSCG Stafford College created striking adverts that were put up in schools, colleges, dental surgeries and on billboards across the city to raise awareness about the importance of dental health.
Decayed teeth in children and young people is one of Stoke’s biggest dental health problems. With many young people unaware of the consequences that high-sugar drinks can have on their teeth, NSCG Stafford College’s students put their creativity to good use and joined forces with the Royal Stoke Hospital's Orthodontic department to improve the ‘dismal statistics’ they were seeing year after year.
The Graphic Design students’ informative and eye-catching adverts explored the impact that soft drinks can have on teeth and have been seen by thousands of people in the community.
16-year-old Avani is passionate about promoting the importance of mental health.
A mindfulness lesson at school inspired her to speak up, take action and champion wellbeing in her school and wider community. She is now an ambassador for a local mental health charity where she mentors young people who are suffering with mental health issues.
She has also raised money to build a wellbeing garden, which will be a space dedicated to challenging stigmas associated with mental-health issues and encouraging everyone who visits to feel that they can talk openly about their emotions and that they are not alone. She raised the money for the garden by creating positive and motivational artwork that appeared in local hospitals and fire stations to lift spirits over the pandemic.
Avani plans to continue the work she has started and do all she can to promote more kindness and acceptance in the world.
I am so humbled to be the winner of the Education & Beyond category award and it is quite a surprise as well! This has given me even more encouragement and zeal to keep going and work harder. It is an amazing feeling when you are able to be passionate about something and an even more incredible feeling when your work spreads to help thewider community. This award is proof that each small act of kindness and change matters, and can lead to so much more. Just as a flavour of what I’ll be doing this Christmas break: I will be internally corunning a Wellbeing Magazineat school, volunteering in a hospital, helping at food banks/drives and many more projects related to mental health and wellbeing this Christmas holiday!
- Avani Bhalla
Since the age of 13, James who has just turned 19, has been raising awareness about climate change and the threats facing Britain’s wildlife through his political campaigning, public speaking and filmmaking.
Thousands of people have seen him talk at events or through his videos, and the State of Nature report, which he helped to launch, had the highest public engagement and media attention of any of the three reports released so far.
As an ambassador for the Surrey Wildlife Trust and member of the RSPB Youth Council, he has collaborated on a multitude of campaigns and projects to help protect nature.
Over lockdown he also organised a virtual Concert for Conservation on World Biodiversity Day, bringing together thousands of young people from across the world to celebrate the planet’s biodiversity and his generation’s fight to protect it. Together with Reserva: The Youth Land Trust, the concert raised $1000 and inspired a second event a month later.
He has ambitious plans for the future including more political campaigning and creating a podcast to shine a light on the myriad of young environmental campaigners to inspire others to stand up and protect the planet too.
Shree Rammandir Gujarati School Students
Shree Rammandir Gujarati School is using the Gujarati language to connect generations and cultures in their community.
By learning Gujarati three of their learners, 5-year-old Ariana Shaan Kanabar, 12-year-old Sankalp Sampat and 11-year-old Bhakti Chauhan, have been able to help grandparents and members of their community at the doctor’s surgery, on the bus and at the Post Office by conversing and translating, bringing the community closer together.
Amidst the pandemic, the institute is also helping many parents and carers to understand the current rules and regulations by translating them from British to Gujarati.
The school aspires for its students to embrace their roots, family origins and culture, while balancing a British way of life.
16-year-old Jamie Watson produced 700 visors for NHS staff and key workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using his 3D printer and one he borrowed from school, he helped people on the frontline to protect themselves amidst a national shortage of PPE.
I’m really grateful to my school for helping me explore my interest in CAD/CAM, as this inspired me to purchase a 3D printer of my own – without this I wouldn’t have been able to have helped in the pandemic by making all of the face shields.
- Jamie Watson
Youth@CLC are a youth advisory panel, aged between 13 and 18, who help children and young people in Northern Ireland to understand their legal rights with the Children’s Law Centre.
They helped to create REE Rights Responder, which they say is the first online legal chatbot where young people under 18 can ask questions about their rights on anything from minimum wage to stop and searches.
So far it has sent and received a total of 8,604 messages from young people about their rights and helped young people across Northern Ireland to stand up for themselves.
Children’s rights matter to us because we know that young people can be exploited if they don’t understand them.
Our REE Rights Responder is the first online legal chatbot for under 18s and has helped young people in Northern Ireland to advocate for their rights. One young person who used it was able to negotiate back-pay from their employer after a period of underpaid holiday shifts.
- Youth@CLC
9-year-old Teddie Trainer from Wales put his enterprising baking skills to good use, raising money for orphaned children in Zambia through his decorated cupcakes.
I can go to school and play and learn at home and enjoy food, drink and games, but children like me in poor countries can't do the same - that's not fair! I made £405 for children with no mums and dads by selling my cakes and drinks.
- Teddie Trainer
Teddie also created a special ‘Learning in Lockdown’ video highlighting all the interesting things he learnt at home with his Mum, who has been shielding throughout the pandemic.
Matt Boyd, Tallulah Clarke, Isabel Gilchrist, Conal Ham, Mackenzie Jackson, Lewis Perryman, Ellis Simpson, Ailsa Swinburne
A group of Year 9 students from Berwick Academy in Northumberland used their learning about graffiti art to decorate their town, as well as inform people about important health issues. The students’ art will appear on boards erected outside of the new Berwick Hospital site for the local community to learn from and enjoy.
It is important to try to make people not feel alone and we have tried to do it in a bright, colourful, and helpful way with our art designs. It’s important to understand and try to help people who suffer from any health issues, anxieties and stress, especially during a pandemic.
It is also important for people to know that 'graffiti' doesn't always have to be vandalism and people like Banksy, Keith Haring and us can use it to give positive messages and make people think.
- Berwick Academy
17-year-old Saratu is passionate about racial equality and has been using the power of performance and spoken word to share her views and experiences in her school and beyond.
She has spent over a year personally researching the Black Lives Matter movement and injustices across America and Britain and is committed to studying this further and driving change through activism and campaigning when she goes to university next year.
We have not even scratched the surface of equality. We don't even know half of what racial bias truly means… We need to be able to walk into these white spaces with our unapologetic black faces, and that's why I crave change.
- An extract from Saratu’s performance entitled Crave Change
For the last year, 13-year-old Zach Graham, from Cumbria, has been creating vibrant artwork on hundreds of pebbles and selling them to fundraise for causes that matter to him. Over lockdown, he raised over £2,000 for the NHS.
He plans to be an illustrator when he is older and to continue having a positive impact on people through his artwork.
This special school in Bolton empowers its students to make a positive difference in the community, while educating the public about autism.
Despite significant barriers to learning, with 82% of students autistic and all learning-disabled, students visit the elderly, pick up litter, raise awareness about mental health and volunteer in a vast range of local projects.
Around one in 100 people are autistic, yet there are many people who still don’t really understand what it means. Our community projects reinforce the fact that our pupils have a valued place in society and help teach them about the world and wider community.
Meanwhile, the projects also help to educate members of the public on disability and what it means to be autistic, how it might look and how people might act. We show the community that it is okay to ask questions.
- Kaylie Crompton, Headteacher, Birtenshaw School
Bradford Academy – Sporting Elite students
Bradford Academy’s Sporting Elite student ambassadors have been volunteering their own time to come into school early to cook and distribute breakfast to the whole school, ensuring no child is too hungry to learn.
Having learners, who are good role models and already on a path of fitness, distribute food to other learners has not only given these students a sense of purpose, it has also made students more confident taking food, as it’s from someone their own age, who they can relate to. The quantity of bagels/toast that are being eaten has increased dramatically.
- Warren Clarke, Teacher, Bradford Academy
18-year-old Rachel, an ambassador for Dyslexia Scotland, is passionate about educating the public and changing perceptions of dyslexia.
She has presented to children and teachers at schools throughout Scotland, as well as student teachers at several Scottish Universities, helping them to better understand dyslexia and take action to make school a positive experience for dyslexic children.
Motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic and scientific developments, 16-year-old Molly started a fortnightly health and medicine newsletter at her school.
She has kept students up to date on important scientific developments and current affairs in an approachable and accessible way, while drawing on her learning and interests in science and healthcare.
Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, 13-year-old Diego decided to spark change in his school by re-writing the History curriculum to include more black, Asian and minority ethnicity history.
He wrote to his local MP calling for change and is working closely with his school to implement his ideas, so all students can feel more included in what they study.
Being of mixed heritage - a white, British mother and a black, African father - my life has always been culturally diverse. However, I think back to my education, and the teaching of black history was only ever a theme for October. Teachers never taught us about things like Windrush.
There needs to be an inclusive curriculum, so I am working with my school and a group of students to explore the topics that we learn about from The Black Civil Rights Movement to the origins of generations in Africa. I hope topics like this will give young people a chance to learn about black history, but also to educate them about the issue of unconscious bias, and help eradicate racism, not just in the UK, but in the world!
- Diego Bartolomeu
13-year-old Finlay, from Scotland, is passionate about marine conservation and protecting nature – particularly sharks. His campaigning helped to stop kelp dredging in Scotland and made his village, Ullapool, the first plastic straw-free place in the UK.
He has spoken to politicians and the UN to lobby for change on environmental issues. He also regularly litter-picks and cleans his local beaches – in August he and his family removed 1,400kg of plastic in just six days!
George Spicer Primary School – Year 4
Year 4 students at George Spicer Primary School are taking a stand against unsustainably sourced Palm Oil, with students boycotting products that use it and writing letters to organisations like Cadbury to call for them to make changes to their products too.
9-year-old Rebecca – also known as ‘Butterfly Girl’ - has inspired her over 7,000 followers on social media to create butterfly gardens, plant foodplants and support the important work of butterfly conservation.
Putting his Geography skills to good use, 15-year-old Kabir created an interactive map of nature reserves and designated wildlife sites in London to raise awareness of the urban wildlife on people’s doorsteps, and encourage Londoners to explore the green and blue spaces near them.
Great and Little Shelford CE (A) Primary School
This primary school in Cambridge is dedicated to internationalism and building relationships across the world, with partnerships in France, Canada, Kenya, Zambia, Morocco, to name a few.
They are committed to encouraging learners to explore different cultures, make connections, and challenge stereotypes through their global pen pal initiatives, student letters and video meetings, as well as weekly global affairs sessions to discuss global events. They even hold an annual whole-school-community 'French Breakfast', where pupils act as French waiters, taking orders for typical French breakfast items.
As well as student initiatives, teachers are encouraged to learn from each other too – they run a headteacher placement with a school in France, so they can each reflect and explore the cultural and pedagogical differences of their education systems.
Bancrofts School Student Group
Bancrofts school turns teacher-student roles on their head to engage learners with languages.
Sixth-form students (Harriet Wyatt, Davina Veshelika, David Nana, Theo Life, Chase Fagan, Louis Whalley, Maiya Patni, Lola Angeli, Hanna Wright, Eleanor Channer, Numayer Chowduary, Davissen Thielamay, Alex Daya, Siobhan Downey, Vishali Ganesh, Gauri Godbole and Orla Joyce) become language teachers for a day, where they plan and deliver lessons with the aim of making sure each pupil has a positive experience learning their new language.
This activity led to the sixth formers preparing a Languages day for local schools, which promoted cultural awareness and tolerance, with activities such as Russian dancing and food tasting, French art competition and Spanish music.