Bright Future Prize
Empowering and investing in the next generation of community leaders.
The Bright Future Prize searches for the next generation of leaders and innovators – those exceptional young people who are committed to driving positive change and inspiring others. The opportunity is open to teenagers aged 13–19, who live anywhere The Ardonagh Group has a presence, including the UK, Ireland, Australia, Brazil, the United States, Portugal, South Africa and Gibraltar.
The Bright Future Prize was launched in the memory of Freddie Williams, the son of Ardonagh colleague David and his wife Sarah.
In 2015, aged seven, Freddie was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. When Freddie died four years later, the contents of his money box were donated to ACT with the message: “To help pay for special treats for the next poorly child.”
Freddie pictured flying over Anfield, the home ground of his favourite football team, Liverpool FC.
The Williams Family – Freddie together with his parents, David and Sarah, and his siblings Jack and Megan.
This simple act led to the creation of the Bright Future Prize, which enables young people to realise their dreams to make a positive impact in the communities that matter to them.
To continue Freddie’s legacy, David and Sarah help the ACT Trustees select our Bright Future Prize winners every year.
In 2022, the £40,000 prize fund was shared between winners across four different categories:
Each project was different but linked by the young winners’ aim to make their community better, brighter and stronger. They received £10,000 (or equivalent local currency) to make their project a reality, alongside mentoring opportunities from ACT.
The world is increasingly aware of the needs of people who identify as neurodiverse, which includes conditions such as autism, dyslexia and Tourette’s. But there’s still more that can be done to support people living with neurodiversity.
Kaydi Scottsville’s own experience of autism revealed the lack of support available in schools. When she initially left school at 14, she felt very isolated. It made Kaydi want to help other young people and their families have a different journey.
Kaydi initially set up her non-profit, Diversified, as a platform to sell affordable sensory toys. However, since then it has turned into a fully-fledged charity with online and face-to-face programmes for teenagers and families. Most recently it launched a day service to help teenagers who can’t attend school.
Now, Kaydi is on track to establish a physical home for Diversified, so that its services can be accessed by even more young people.
Uniformity upcycles school uniforms, enabling parents at Tauheedul Islam Boys’ School in Blackburn to donate and purchase used clothing via an innovative e-commerce platform. But here’s the difference – the profits go straight into funding the school’s food bank.
Muhammad coordinates all the dry cleaning and organising stock to get it to parents. Now, as the social enterprise is growing, the team have set their sights on expanding to more schools in the area. To do that, they are planning to purchase their own dry cleaning machine to reduce costs and upgrade their online platform to make it simpler to donate and purchase clothing.
Sara’s bright idea started with the desire to find a more environmentally friendly way to generate wind power. Traditional fibreglass wind turbine blades are expensive and can’t be recycled. In fact, 43 million tons of fibreglass will end up in landfill by 2050. To tackle this, Sara has designed an eco-turbine blade made from wood, which she’s been testing and refining for over a year.
Sara’s design is ready to move from 3D modelling software to the machine, and she plans to purchase a computerised manufacturing machine to begin producing her blades to create self-build kits. Sara initially plans to sell her blades locally, but ultimately, she wants to take them across the world, particularly in Africa where affordable, renewable and reliable energy is so important to establish.
Jeffrey earned his black belt in karate aged just 13, and in the four years since has used his skills to set up his own non-profit organisation Golden Age Karate, where he teaches martial arts to senior citizens (aka his “ninja nannas”) in local nursing homes. Having seen his own grandparents experience loneliness, he wanted to make sure older people living away from their family had something to look forward to. Whether they’re aged 70 or 101, Jeffrey believes his students have so much to learn and enjoy!
Jeffrey’s idea is to bring together this work with his other major passion – film. He wants to create a documentary that showcases the stories behind his ninja nannas, highlighting their life experiences and their value to the community. Jeffrey previously appeared in a film that led to him setting up several new chapters in more nursing homes. Through this documentary he will go a step further to inspire other people to give back to older people who are local to them – whether that be martial arts or something else entirely.