Young People Making a Difference

-- 2022 Barron Prize Recipients Announced --

BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, a national award that recognizes inspiring, public-spirited young people, announces its 2022 winners. Established in 2001 by author T. A. Barron, the Barron Prize is a nonprofit organization annually honoring 25 outstanding young leaders ages 8 to 18 who have made a significant positive difference in people's lives, their communities, and the environment. Every year, fifteen top winners are each awarded $10,000 to support their service work or higher education.

This year's Barron Prize winners include those who are helping the homeless; promoting STEM education; protecting wildlife; inventing devices to benefit world health; and raising awareness and funds for important environmental issues. The 2022 winners are:

Anna De Volld, age 17, of Alaska, who founded Promote Our Pollinators to raise awareness of pollinators' importance and devastating decline, and to provide ways to promote their population growth.

Aseel Rawashdeh, age 17, of Texas, who developed an inexpensive and environmentally friendly solution to mosquito-borne diseases, creating a larvicide that could be produced in industrial quantities.

Austin Picinich, age 17, of Washington, who founded Save Our Salmon Through Art to create vibrant public art projects in the Greater Seattle area that engage, educate, and empower communities to restore salmon spawning streams.

Ethan Hill, age 11, of Alabama, who created Ethan's Heart Bags4Blessings to support individuals experiencing homelessness in his city by providing survival care bags containing items such as a sleeping bag, cold weather clothing, first aid supplies, and hygiene products.

Hannah Guan, age 15, of Texas, who founded San Antonio Math Include to increase access to STEM education for underserved students.

Jack Dalton, age 12, of New Hampshire, who works to protect critically endangered orangutans and their rainforest habitat, as well as to educate and inspire people to protect the environment.

Karina Samuel, age 17, of Florida, who founded the Florida chapter of Bye Bye Plastic Bags, an international student-led nonprofit committed to reducing the amount of plastic on the planet.

Karun Kaushik, age 17 of California, who created X-Check-MD, Artificial Intelligence (AI) software that can diagnose Covid-19 and pneumonia with 99% accuracy in under one minute.

Khloe Joiner, age 9 of Texas, who founded A Book and a Smile to help build kids' home libraries and improve relationships between children and the police.

Laalitya Acharya, age 18, of Ohio, who invented Nereid, a low-cost, globally applicable device that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect water contamination within seconds.

Lucy Westlake, age 18, of Illinois, who founded LucyClimbs to raise awareness of the need for clean water in developing countries by climbing the world's highest mountains. She is the youngest American woman ever to summit Everest.

Luna Abadía, age 17, of Oregon, who founded the Effective Climate Action Project to increase awareness of solutions to climate change – especially the possibilities of systemic thinking and collective action.

Sahana Mantha, age 15, of North Carolina, who co-founded Foundation for Girls to support homeless single mothers by connecting them with volunteer coaches who help them become financially savvy and career confident.

Sri Nihal Tammana, age 13, of New Jersey, who created Recycle My Battery, a nonprofit that installs free battery recycling bins and educates young people and adults about battery recycling.           

William Charouhis, age 16, of Florida, who founded We are Forces of Nature and its A Million Mangroves initiative to combat climate change and to protect coastlines from the effects of sea level rise.

"These outstanding young people saw a need and came up with creative solutions to help others and make a real difference," says founder T. A. Barron. "By honoring and supporting these young heroes and their amazing work, we hope to inspire even more youth to pursue their big dreams of changing the world."

For more information visit www.barronprize.org

Established in 2001 by author T. A. Barron, the Barron Prize is a national award that annually honors 25 outstanding young leaders ages 8 to 18 who have made a significant positive difference to people and the environment. These young people are as diverse as their service projects. They are female and male, urban and rural, and from a wide variety of backgrounds across the U.S. and Canada. All of them demonstrate heroic character qualities like courage and compassion. Through the years, the Barron Prize has earned the support of Girl Scouts of the USA, The Wilderness Society, Youth Service America, and Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots, among other organizations. To learn more about the Barron Prize, visit www.barronprize.org

T. A. Barron grew up in Colorado ranch country and traveled widely as a Rhodes Scholar. He is the winner of the de Grummond Medallion for "lifetime contribution to the field of children's and young adult literature." His highly acclaimed, internationally bestselling books include The Lost Years of Merlin (now being developed into a film), The Great Tree of Avalon (a New York Times bestseller), The Ancient One, and The Hero's Trail, which profiles heroic young people from diverse backgrounds and inspires young people to think of how they can make a positive difference in the world. He loves to write and hike in Colorado. For more information visit www.TABarron.com

SOURCE Barron Prize for Young Heroes