Our News

Behind the Retrospective – A closer look : setting sparks

Earlier this year, ACT unveiled its first ever exhibition – ACT: A Retrospective – showcasing the stories, people and impact behind the Trust over the past eight years.

No matter where you are around the world, you can explore exhibition in using the virtual tour – before a travelling version voyages around key sites and events across the Group.

Taking centre stage of the Retrospective’s launch event was the Bright Future Prize, so next we delve into learning more about the incredible young changemakers ACT has supported around the world.

Setting sparks: begin small, but believe big

We are a proud catalyst for passion projects and community endeavours around the globe. The spark that lights the flame, the ripple that begins the wave, and the push that creates momentum.

Central to this ambition is our annual Bright Future Prize, through which we empower and invest in the next generation of community leaders.

With over £180,000 awarded to more than 45 young people from around the world through the prize since its inception – we pledge our belief in a future fuelled by young entrepreneurs with ambitions for good.

Behind Bright Future: a simple act

Freddie was seven years old when he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. Son of Everywhen colleague David and his wife Sarah, in our foundation year ACT supported the Williams family in collaboration with local charities.

After Freddie died in 2019, his family asked for the contents of his money box – £56.13 – to be donated to ACT, as he would have wanted, with the message:

“To help pay for special treats for the next poorly child.”

Inspired by this simple act, in 2021 we established the Bright Future Prize to enable young people to realise their dreams to make a positive impact to the world and people around them. Alongside the Williams family, we are honoured to continue Freddie’s legacy.

The Williams family, from left to right: Jack, Sarah, Megan, Freddie, David

Empowering and investing in the next generation

Over the past four years, Bright Future Prize has invested in aspiring young leaders around the world.

Representing Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Portugal, South Africa, the UK and the USA, our Bright Future Prize stars have each harnessed their own ambitions to give back to the people and world around them.

Discover all our finalists and winners to-date using our interactive, global Bright Future map, which you can access in the virtual exhibition. Simply head to the ‘Setting sparks’ section.

Our inaugural 2021 winners, Demereece and Aaliyah, head over to the interactive Bright Future map during the launch exhibition.

Guests of honour

We were hugely proud to welcome a number of Bright Future alumni to the Retrospective launch event. Bringing their infectious entrepreneurial spirit with them, several of our Bright Future guests also featured in the exhibition, having contributed items connected to their winning community projects.

2025 winner Jarvis Rohr is a key part of Sound Communities CIC, a music education charity in Devon. The decks were out with tracks by Jarvis (right), Liam (left) and more young people who have got creative thanks to the cause’s work in the local Torbay community.

I'm beyond grateful for the amazing opportunity to be part of ACT's Retrospective event. It was such an honour to see our young artists from Torbay featured in a space as iconic as Kensington Palace. They had set up our very own stand with our DJ decks, playing our original music with super-slick matte cards that had cover art for each artist on one side, and a bio about what inspired them to write the song on the other. “It felt like it was as if we were all high-flying artists and our works had been placed in a fancy museum! Seeing some of the other Bright Future Prize winner's projects that were displayed was also inspiring, as it shone a spotlight on passionate young people with all different interests. “The event gave real validation to the talent and passion our young people are pouring into their music, and it meant a lot for Sound Communities to have that work recognised on such a platform. It’s moments like this that show us - that our voices truly matter, and there are generous people out there (like the Ardonagh community) making positive change in the world.
Jarvis Rohr, Bright Future Prize 2025 winner
Trio Ahtasham, Demereece and Aaliyah and, aka Dawn to the Light (pictured here with Ashley Hammond, Head of Charity & Community), were the prize’s inaugural winners with their design for a video game to support young people care for their mental health – with a sample of the game being on screen at the exhibition.
2025 finalist Donna (right) and her mum take a read of a wonderful poem written by 2024 microgrant recipient Tshepiso from South Africa inspired by the school library he used the funding to establish. Shortly after opening, the school experienced a devastating fire, but Tshepiso – with help from ACT – rebuilt the space to ensure the community could continue to benefit.
In celebration of his immense resilience to re-build the library, Tshepiso won an award at his school.

The Library That Wouldn’t Burn
Tshepiso Kola, Bright Future Prize grant recipient 2024

We built it with hands full of hope,
stacked shelves like bridges to new worlds,
words lined up like lanterns,
ready to light minds in the quiet corners of Zitikeni.
Then the fire came.

It swallowed stories before they could be told,
turned dreams to ash,
left the air thick with loss,
where once there had been laughter.
I stood in the ruins,
feet pressed against charred pages,
wondering if knowledge could ever burn for good.
But then, the hands that built once,
built again.

ACT stood beside us,
not with pity, but with purpose.
Bricks rose where there had been rubble,
books returned with spines unbroken,
and the whispers of pages grew louder than the flames had ever been.
This library, this stubborn, unyielding home of words
stood again,
because stories do not end when fire takes them.

They rise.
They rebuild.
They refuse to burn.

2022 winner Sara demonstrates the wooden wind turbine design that saw her win the Your Planet category of the prize. Sara and her dad brought the turbine blade and generator pictured all the way from Ireland to showcase.
I was amazed by how many other people the Ardonagh Group were able to help and that the Bright Future Prize is only one small piece to this massive puzzle which was illustrated so well by the painting created over the launch evening. It was a really touching event and I'm so excited for the future of ACT.
Sara O’Beirne, 2022 Bright Future Prize winner, who came over from Ireland to attend the launch event

We can’t wait to see what the fifth anniversary of Bright Future Prize will bring when it opens for applications in early 2026.

A world-class alumni network

Alongside the Bright Future guests we were lucky to have with us in London, our globe-spanning Alumni network are shining examples of coming up with an idea and relentlessly pursuing it. From our inaugural cohort in 2021 to our most recent 2025 winners, we love hearing updates from them to learn about what they’ve gone on to achieve and project developments.

Here are highlights from just some of our alumni, showcasing what they've gone on to do next...

Marta Bernardino

Our 2025 'Your Planet' winner, Marta has been travelling around the world from her home in Portugal to garner further support and to develop her hexapod, tree-planting robot, Trovador, on a mission to combat deforestation. Alongside her co-founder, Sebastião, the robot is in its next stage of testing as a full-scale prototype. Marta is a true advocate of engineering and entrepreneurial spirit, having journeyed to Silicon Valley, attended National Geographic events as a 'Young Explorer' and even invitations to speak at TedX. 

Chloe McCormick

Another 'Your Planet' winner, this time from 2024, Chloe is continuing to build her 'Code Green' project. Uniting a passion for coding, the environment and social endeavour, Chloe has established a network of workshops in Australia teaching young children the skills to utilise coding to protect the plant. This September, Chloe has started her studies in Economics & Energy at Harvard University in the States.

Kagiso Kgatle

With unending energy, our 2022 finalist Kagiso from South Africa is a prime example of true community spirit. Since founding the KKF Foundation, Kagiso has delivered a range of programmes to support fellow young people in his hometown and beyond to reach their full potential. Alongside workshops and policy implementation in his school to support education access and diversity & inclusion, Kagiso has attended government events to represent young people to feed into policy strategy and decision making at a national level.

Kanishk Aggarwal

2025 'Your Vision' winner, Kanishk, is determined to make a difference to peoples' quality of life. Harnessing his engineering know-how and technical skills on the soldering bench, he's developed medical devices to support day-to-day living. With real-time sensors and smart fabrics, he's on the path to launching new equipment. With late nights building devices and re-iterating designs to create products, Kanishk represents real drive.

Learn more about Bright Future Prize and all our alumni on the ACT website.

View the virtual Retrospective in full

Take a look at the ACT: A Retrospective exhibition by exploring our fully virtual version. Accessible online, interact with all the exhibits and immerse yourself in the showcase.

Setting on a global tour

Towards the end of 2025, ACT: A Retrospective will set off on its journey of key locations and events across The Ardonagh Group. Over the following the 12 months, this travelling version of the exhibition aims to reach as many colleagues and friends of the Group as possible!

In the meantime, learn more about ACT and all its funding programmes by exploring the ACT website and following us @ardonaghCT.