Ormiston Trust celebrates young voices through sponsorship of Suffolk Young Speaker of the Year Awards 2026
Ormiston Trust has proudly supported this year’s Suffolk Young Speaker of the Year Awards, helping to champion young people’s confidence, communication skills and social action across Suffolk.
The 2026 final, organised by ASSET Education and its ASSET Alumni group of former students, took place on 22 April at the University of Suffolk, bringing together 23 young speakers from 12 schools and colleges. The event gave children and young people a platform to speak on issues that matter to them, with categories including education, the future, hobbies and passions, sport, and Ipswich as a City of Culture.
As Headline Sponsor, Ormiston Trust sponsored the Youth Social Action category, reflecting the Trust’s long-standing commitment to youth voice, active citizenship and youth-led change.
This year’s Youth Social Action award was presented to Roxy Mills from Suffolk New College by Dr Ray Wang, Lead for Youth Engagement, Partnerships and Programme Development who was also a member of this year’s judging panel.
This is the second year Ormiston Trust has sponsored the awards. Last year’s Ormiston Social Action Award was won by Freya Ollason, also of Suffolk New College for her speech calling for improved mental health provision for young people and again presented in Ipswich by Dr Wang.
Dr Ray Wang said:
“The Ormiston Trust Youth Social Action Award is designed to recognise a young speaker who demonstrates an outstanding ability to persuade and inspire others to become active citizens, take action and make a difference.
Her speech was informative, powerful and deeply compelling,
Dr Ray Wang
“Roxy delivered a sophisticated and engaging speech which blended factual information with, very bravely, her own lived experience as a patient living with endometriosis. In doing so, she demonstrated excellent advocacy not just for herself, but for the wider community of patients living with this condition.
“Her speech was informative, powerful and deeply compelling, and we are delighted to present Roxy with the Ormiston Trust Youth Social Action Award.”
The Trust’s sponsorship reflects its wider work supporting youth social action and opportunities for young people to develop the skills, confidence and networks they need to make a positive difference in their communities, in particular our support of social action in Ipswich as a member of the Ipswich Social Mobility Alliance.
Ormiston Trust congratulates all the young speakers, finalists, award winners, schools, colleges, organisers and sponsors who made this year’s event such a success.
