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Hear from our 2025 Bright Future finalists!

Now in its fourth year, through the Bright Future Prize, ACT once again set on a mission to search the globe for aspiring young community leaders and change makers – with a prize fund of £40,000 waiting to invest in their bright ideas.

After receiving applications from young people aged 15 to 21 around the world, at the start of 2025 we announced our eight finalists who together represent Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Portugal and the UK.

Over the past month, we’ve met them all to create films to showcase the drive and inspiration behind each their projects and to learn more about their dreams to do good.

So get to know them all before at the end of March, our ACT Trustees have the difficult decision of selecting the winners of each of the prize’s four categories.

This week we meet Jarvis, Marta, Donna and Adriely…!

Meet our first four finalists

Supporting aspiring musicians to kickstart their careers
Jarvis Rohr, UK

In rural Devon, there are fewer opportunities for young people to perform and create their own music. That’s where Jarvis and Sound Communities Records CIC make a difference, by empowering young people to pursue their ambitions and breaking down barriers to music production.

Jarvis uses his own musical talents and drive to help other local young people dream big. Whether it’s the means to record music, getting slots at venues, and even marketing skills, Sound Communities Records even has its own youth-led festival – with aspirations to do even more.

My vision is to inspire future generations by showcasing positive youth-made music, creating a ripple effect that uplifts others from disadvantaged backgrounds. I am really chuffed to be a finalist, and I hope to win to keep this project alive, fostering self-belief and supporting talented young creatives in pursuing their dreams in a town with limited opportunities.
Jarvis Rohr

Using robotic technology to enable reforestation
Marta Bernardino, Portugal

Marta embodies the spirit of invention, with a life-long love of mechanics and electronics. She’s taken her passion for problem solving to the next level, designing a hexapod robot that can cover difficult terrain to plant trees to support reforestation in rural areas of Portugal.

Her robot, Trovador, is totally autonomous, programmed to both navigate to a chosen location and plant young trees. Self-founded, Marta has recently established a small team – ready to take her prototype for further testing and up-scaling.

Watching nature being destroyed by climate change and urbanisation really scares me a lot, so I always try to connect my focus with technology to solve those problems. I'd love to one day have my own climate robotics lab in Portugal - an incubator of ideas - because there's so many problems to solve, but we can do this if we pay attention to the things that matter."
Marta Bernardino

Creating a new way to learn sign language
Donna Mae Quinto, Ireland

Donna is on a mission to create a world where communication knows no boundaries. Having taught herself sign language to support a friend, Donna has gone on to use her passion for coding and technology to create GESTURA, a dedicated sign language app.

She hopes the app will help people of any age to get to grips sign language more easily, with interactive games and finger-spell translation, to provide more engaging resources than she was able to find herself when learning.

I love using STEM and technology to create a positive impact in the world. I have a friend who is hard of hearing and when I tried to learn sign language to support them, I realised there weren't resources and I found it hard to learn. My app, GESTURA, empowers users and breaks down linguistic barriers to make sign language learning intuitive, accessible and engaging for all.
Donna Mae Quinto

Innovating green energy to provide community lighting
Adriely Cravo, Brazil

Adriely is on a societal and environmental mission. As leader of the Biolume project – she’s create a new to provide lighting in Amazonian communities using green energy. Together with her team members at the Federal University of Pará, Adriely has spearheaded the design of a streetlamp powered by biodiesel made from cooking oil that would otherwise be thrown away.

Already, the project has installed streetlamps in the region of the Lower Itacuruçá River. And there are even bigger plans ahead, with the aim to operate in five more communities that would otherwise have no public lighting – improving security and sustainability.

Despite my state, Pará, being the largest holder of energy and of hydroelectric plants – supplying energy to the whole of Brazil – there are people in the Amazon disconnected from the national system. Our streetlamps are hybrids, which use both biodiesel and solar energy. We are bringing hope to these communities.
Adriely Cravo

Who will be our 2025 winners?

At the end of March, our ACT Trustees will have the difficult task of selecting the winners of our four prize categories, each connecting to a different way young people can make a difference. The winners will share the £40,000 prize fund to invest in their bright ideas.

Our four prize categories.

All our finalists join our global network of Bright Future Alumni, now totalling over 45 incredible young people. Throughout the year, our alumni connect and collaborate, sharing their successes and supporting one another's journeys.

Learn more about Bright Future Prize and all our alumni on our Bright Future Prize page.

Stay up to date with the prize by following ACT on Instagram and Facebook @ardonaghct

Get in touch with the ACT team using info@ardonaghtrust.org