Inspirational young Londoners recognised at City Hall awards

The winners of the London Youth Achievement Awards have tonight been announced at a ceremony at City Hall.

Hosted by the London Assembly and the London Youth Assembly, the awards recognise the huge impact made by young people in the capital.

The winners are:

• Best Initiative Award: Chantelle Munguli, who came up with a grants project to address the wealth divide in her Borough, aiming to ease the struggle of those hit hardest by the cost-of-living crisis.
• Community Safety Award: Mathieu Glover. At just 13 years old, Mathieu was robbed at knife point whilst walking home from school. Mathieu developed and began delivering community safety talks and workshops as part of a project known as Safe Travel.
• Greener London Award: For Ashok’s Vision nature and biodiversity projects, young leaders transformed neglected areas by leading planting, greening and community‑cleaning initiatives that restored local ecosystems and created inclusive spaces for wellbeing. 
• Inclusion and Diversity Award: Lauryn Rose Cabral Teixeira, for her multilingual book, "Lauryn That’s Me: The Journey of a Powerful African Girl", and whose initiatives promote inclusive storytelling and challenge stereotypes about Afro hair and Black identity.  
• Outstanding Achievement Award: Chapman Shum’s advocacy for promoting excellence for disabled children in music has raised awareness of disability and inclusion in music education.
• Young Carer Award: Kiara Watson’s journey exemplifies remarkable resilience and determination. Her contributions to the Newham Care Leavers Forum and workshops have influenced service improvements and directly benefited and inspired other care leavers. 
• Young Leader Award: Lenon Muma is the founder ‘Investate’, which aims to create a supportive ecosystem akin to the resources provided by top firms. Under Lenon’s leadership, ‘Investate’ has achieved unprecedented growth and demonstrable success in just 15 months, with over 11,000 members. 
• Young Media Champion Award: Anika Gupte - ‘Studytokker’.  Anika identified a significant divide between students, based on access to revision resources and created an accessible social media platform for all students, to provide free and engaging revision guidance. 
• Youth Voice of London Award: Inaaya Ijaz transformed tokenistic youth participation into substantial advocacy. At 13, she was elected as Deputy Member of Youth Parliament at Redbridge Council. She has represented young voices in the democratic processes, fostering political engagement and empowerment among peers.

Committees made up of Assembly Members and London Youth Assembly Members worked together to shortlist nominations and make the final decisions on winning nominations.

Chair of the London Assembly, Andrew Boff AM, said:

“This is the second year of the London Youth Achievement Awards - and we are delighted to have been able to recognise London’s brilliant young people tonight, and to have thanked them for what they do.

“These young people are the leadership and the change that we need right now. 

“We’re very grateful for the work of the London Youth Assembly in making tonight’s celebrations such a huge success and thank them for all they do in making young Londoners’ voices heard at City Hall.”

Chair of the London Youth Assembly, Hugo Maxwell, said:

“It wasn’t easy to choose tonight’s winners, with so many impressive nominations. Huge thanks to all our nominees – and to those who took time to nominate a young person making a difference in their community.

“The London Youth Assembly is proud to have played its part in tonight’s awards, and we thank the London Assembly for all its help in highlighting the best of what young people do for London.”

Follow us @LondonAssembly.