2025 Shortlisted Nominee
Positive Role Model Award: Age
Sam, a dedicated disabled rights activist and founder of Dream Big Live BiGR, is an expert by experience, promoting youth voice, equity and co-production. A full-time power wheelchair user, Sam coaches football and studies sports coaching at Newcastle College. Since age 12, he has amplified the voices of young people with disabilities, influencing local and national policies through groups like FLARE and Sunderland Youth Council. Sam trains SEND practitioners, speaks at conferences, and meets government ministers, recently meeting with the Secretary of State for Education, to ensure disabled voices are heard by key decision-makers. Sam holds ‘the system’ to account and ‘gets the cogs turning’. His successes include winning the 2025 Student of the Year award, chairing disability conferences, and improving accessibility in college. Sam champions diversity through empowerment, advocacy and self-expression.