BAFTA is launching its 2025 Young Presenters Competition with children’s mental health charity Place2Be to find the next BAFTA Young Presenters. The competition is part of Children’s Mental Health Week, whose theme is ‘Know Yourself, Grow Yourself’, which runs from 3-9 February 2025.
Every year BAFTA runs a competition to find aspiring young presenters to host BAFTA’s events and content for children and young people. Two lucky winners, one aged 10-14 and one aged 15-18, then have the chance to front content for the Young BAFTA YouTube Channel and represent BAFTA at special events around the country.
To enter the competition, children and young people aged between 10-18 years’ old are invited to create and submit a short video on what Place2Be’s theme for Children’s Mental Health Week 2025, ‘Know Yourself, Grow Yourself,’ means to them.
Previous winners have interviewed the likes of Heartstopper’s Kit Connor and William Gao to national treasures Dame Judi Dench and Tom Hiddleston. Last year’s winners, Tristan and Kara Gillespie will be on the red carpet at the BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises in May and have hosted high profile events in Scotland and London, in addition to presenting digital content for BAFTA.
To mark the launch, BAFTA has created a new video mini-series for Children’s Mental Health Week 2025, exploring the importance of building self-awareness for wellbeing. The series sees BAFTA Young Presenters Samaira Iqbal (winner of BAFTA Young Presenter 2021) and Tristan Thompson (2024 winner) sit down with some well-known faces from film, television, and radio to reflect on this year’s theme.
The stars talk about mental health and explore how developing their self-awareness has helped them to grow their confidence and a positive sense of self.
Broadcaster Shanequa Paris shares what strategies she uses to allay her nerves: “I like to be in the know – know exactly what I’m doing, where I’m going, how I’m doing it, and who I’m doing it with. If I don’t have that information, then I’m very nervous; because it’s the unknown that scares me… [I do] research and forward planning, such as making sure I’ve got all the information I need before doing something new, so I don’t get those nerves.”
Actor Chloe Lea reflects on coping with difficult emotions: “Trusting yourself and acknowledging the feelings [is important]. I think it’s really easy to try and get rid of feelings as soon as you feel uncomfortable. But if you give yourself time to process them, then you can actually work with them and use that energy.”
Actor Jay Lycurgo shares his thoughts on living with insecurities: “You never get rid of insecurities. I think they’re there and you just get used to it. Or life happens and you push forward, and you talk to people… Communication is really important… Insecurities come and go. You’re always going to get new insecurities. I just think we get better at it as we get older. But no one needs to get too hard on themselves – we all have them.”
Catherine Roche, CEO of Place2Be, comments on the children’s mental health charity’s collaboration with BAFTA and their Young Presenters: “Since Place2Be first launched Children’s Mental Health Week in 2015, the campaign week has been embraced by thousands of schools, families, children and young people across the UK. The theme this year is ‘Know Yourself, Grow Yourself’, with the aim to encourage children and young people to explore and embrace self-awareness and build the skills to help them thrive. As we look this year to celebrate children and young people building their resilience, we’re delighted – once again – to have the support of our long-term partner BAFTA and their passionate Young Presenters. We hope these videos will inspire all children and young people to explore self-awareness and what it means to them, in helping to express and understand their emotions.”
Sara Putt, Chair of BAFTA, says: “We’re incredibly proud to be partnering with Place2Be once again to launch our annual Young Presenters competition for Children’s Mental Health Week 2025. This initiative celebrates both young talent, and with this year’s theme of Know Yourself, Grow Yourself, it also encourages young people to connect to their own journey of personal and emotional growth. We’re excited to see how the next generation of presenters will bring their unique voices to the world!”
