The Youth Sport Trust celebrated their latest success stories at the annual Youth Sport Trust Young Changemaker Awards hosted by former professional swimmer Michael Gunning at St Ermin’s Hotel in Westminster.

A host of sporting stars presented awards to the seven winners including the first British woman to win medals at five successive Olympic games Dame Katherine Grainger, seven-time Paralympic Champion Hannah Cockroft OBE, and Olympic gold medallist Duncan Goodhew MBE who also co-founded the charity back in 1995 were among a star-studded guest list.

Over the last academic year the Youth Trust Sport have trained almost 12,500 young people to be leaders to their peers, and over 140,000 young people took part in an activity made possible by the Trust. CEO Ali Oliver believes the skills learnt will prove invaluable in building brighter futures for the young people involved.

“We have equipped these young people with the skills required to build confidence, create connections, inspire self-belief and foster a sense of belonging in everyone they lead,” said Oliver.

“Through the Young Changemaker Awards we are celebrating just a small handful of those young people, many of whom have faced real challenges, and who, without our work, may not have had the opportunity to find belonging, happiness and well-being in and through sport.”

Hannah Cockroft added:

“It’s massively important to recognise what these young people have done. Young people in the UK get so much bad press about what they are not doing and the Young Changemaker Awards highlights that children are going out of their way to do things for their peers.

“It’s a really positive initiative that more people need to hear about. All the award winners have a fantastic story to tell and it’s a real privilege to be a part of this great event.”

You can find out more about each of the winners and view their winners films on the Youth Sport Trust website here.

The Young Changemaker Awards were preceded by an announcement earlier in the day that Sir Mo Farah has partnered with the charity as their new National School Sport Champion. Together, the Youth Sport Trust and Sir Mo launched Mo’s Mission to ensure that all young people are active in line with the UK Chief Medical Officer’s recommended minimum of ‘60 minutes a day - of PE, sport and play’.

Mo’s Mission is underpinned by the Youth Sport Trust’s new manifesto for change which sets out five key recommendations to create a nation of active and well schools which give every child the chance to be active for at least 60 minutes day.

You can read more about Mo’s Mission and the Youth Sport Trust manifesto here