Sanemi Parashar, Tricia Kemp and Susan Brownson have been announced as the winners of the 2024 Claire Campbell Awards for Outstanding Achievement.

Louis Moss and Gaea Thompson have also been honoured for their commitment to supporting deaf children achieve their potential as they are announced as Highly Commended recipients.

The awards were launched in 2023 in tribute to Claire, a mum of three, two of whom are profoundly deaf, who championed the need for early and effective support for deaf children to achieve their potential right up to her death in 2022.

Claire was a committed ambassador of Auditory Verbal UK, and its Chair of Trustees from 2013 to 2020.  Claire was, and remains, a source of inspiration to many families with deaf children across the UK and internationally.

In memory of the dedication and compassionate support Claire gave to others - together with her family – for the second year these awards once again recognise the outstanding achievements of deaf children and young people and the adults who have gone above and beyond to support them. 

The finalists for the awards were announced in early November 2024, with strong nominations for children, young people and adults from across the UK who are going above and beyond to ensure more deaf children have the same opportunities as their hearing peers.

Sanemi Parashar - winner of the Children and Young Person Outstanding Achievement Award

 

 

 

This award recognises a deaf child or young person with hearing loss who has gone above and beyond to demonstrate that deaf children can achieve their potential.

Sanemi Parashar (12) was born profoundly deaf and had cochlear implant surgery at 15 months, followed by a reimplant less than a year later. She was supported to learn to listen and speak as a young child with Auditory Verbal therapy on Auditory Verbal UK’s family programme. Despite having balance issues she overcame this and other hurdles, persevering in developing her speech and language skills to achieve age appropriate spoken language. 

Always keen to help others Sanemi promotes charity work at school where she is on the school council, is an ambassador and mentor for Advanced Bionics (cochlear implant manufacturer) and supports and volunteers for the Emmeline Centre at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, a specialist Hearing Implant Centre.

She is also involved with the Cambridge and Huntingdon Deaf Children's Society, a volunteer with the BEARS cochlear implant trial to help children and young people with cochlear implants hear better and even raised money while on holiday with the Rotary Club of India and T5CC Bakery as well as meeting implant surgeons and the rehab team at the local hospital. She is excelling at school, learning two foreign languages as well as Indian dance and is always outspoken about the impact of deafness alongside challenging perceptions of what deaf young people can achieve.

On receiving her award Sanemi said: “I am absolutely delighted to have been a finalist with some amazing young people sharing a similar journey like mine, and it feels wonderful to have won this award. I am fortunate to have all the required support and care from my family, all professionals, and AVUK who have helped me express myself with the power of speech. The award motivates me even further to continue supporting other children who are less fortunate than me.”

 

Susan Brownson and Tricia Kemp - Adult Outstanding Achievement Award Winners

This award recognises an adult, such as a professional, teacher, parent or caregiver, who, like Claire, has gone above and beyond to support a deaf child or children to achieve their potential and/or challenge the perceptions of what deaf children can achieve.

Susan Brownson is Deputy Headteacher and Lead of Deaf Provision at Laycock School in London and is described as “a visionary leader at the heart and soul” of the provision in London. Her unwavering commitment to inclusion has not only transformed the lives of the children she works with but has also set a benchmark for educational institutions nationwide.

She believes deeply in supporting deaf children, ensuring they are equipped with the skills, confidence, and self-belief to reach their full potential. Her holistic approach to education goes above and beyond traditional teaching methods, fostering an environment where deaf children are not just included but celebrated. She collaborates closely with families, teachers, and healthcare professionals supporting both academic and social needs.

And she consistently challenges and changes perceptions about what deaf children can achieve, debunking myths about the limitations still too often associated with deafness.

On receiving her award Susan said: “I am very touched by receiving this award especially in memory of Claire Campbell who was such an inspiring and passionate advocate for deaf children.

“I feel that this is a tribute to the many amazing children, young people and families who have taught me so much in the past forty years. The opportunities that are opening to deaf children are so much wider than when I first started teaching but we should never be complacent and should carry on ensuring that an outstanding education, with appropriate levels of support, are available to all."

Tricia Kemp is the parent of one of the very first British children to receive a cochlear implant and set up the Cochlear Implanted Children's Support Group (CICS) in 1993 to support families and children with cochlear implants around the UK with support, advice and information.

It was and still is an independent and volunteer-led charity run by parents of deaf children. Now the group co-ordinator for the charity she does so much more than this and was nominated for regularly going above and beyond to ensure families get the best support for their children and ensuring the CICS network continues to be an invaluable source of support for families with deaf children.

Tricia champions the achievements of children with cochlear implants inspiring others to reach their potential. Parents of deaf children talk about her passion, commitment and enthusiasm alongside her personal approach, communication and support. She always thinks of others and goes above and beyond to support deaf children and their families.

On receiving her award Tricia said: "I am delighted and humbled to receive this unexpected and prestigious award, especially as it is for something about which I am so passionate.

“It is imperative that families of deaf children are provided with support and information about how today's technology can give deaf children so much potential.

“Having access to a network of families with lived experience of this offers those starting out on their deaf child's journey reassurance, hope, encouragement and enthusiasm for what lies ahead. I hope that the small part I play in this process assists families to help their deaf child reach their potential.

“To receive an award for something I so enjoy is like a double reward. It also reminds me of Claire who I knew and respected for many years.  It is so sad that I cannot receive it direct from her in person, but I hope she would have felt me worthy of it." 

 The quality of entries for the 2024 Awards were so high the judges also awarded a Highly Commended for each category.

Louis Moss – Children and Young Person Outstanding Achievement Award Highly Commended

Louis Moss (12) progressively lost his hearing and after wearing hearing aids he received cochlear implants aged seven. He attended the family-centred Auditory Verbal therapy programme at AVUK as a young child to support him to listen and speak and graduated with age-appropriate language. Louis now attends mainstream school loves gaming, tennis, reading and playing with his friends.

Together with his family he also campaigns to improve access to early support to develop language and communication for all deaf children, including access to Auditory Verbal therapy.

He is constantly challenging perceptions of what deaf children can achieve, and has met MPs in the Houses of Parliament, as well as the Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, who then invited him to join the launch of her Big Ambition in Westminster. He has conducted television and radio interviews as part of his campaigning work and is always happy to share his own story and experiences to challenge perception of what deaf children can do. In September his efforts were recognised by The Sun newspaper who announced him as runner up in the Saffie Smile Awards to celebrate children who have gone above and beyond to help others.

 

Gaea Thompson - Adult Outstanding Achievement Award Highly Commended

Gaea Thompson is a Teaching Assistant for the Deaf in a deaf support facility at Willingdon Primary School in East Sussex.

Her award recognises the effort she goes to supporting deaf children and their families and the fun, friendly and supportive relationships she develops with the young people to help them develop language, social and emotional skills.

She has a passion to develop deaf children’s identity and organises fun deaf role model events including with a deaf mountain biker and deaf dog groomer as well as talking about her own experiences of being deaf and how this has never prevented her achieving anything she wanted.

Gaea has co-ordinated a Safety in Action Day with a range of emergency services to improve deaf awareness and enable deaf children to learn vital life skills. And to improve the experiences for deaf children and their families she has organised parental workshops on a number of themes including building esteem and being the parent of a deaf child. She has also this year volunteered in Ghana supporting deaf children in the country.

On receiving her award Gaea said: “As a long-time advocate of the needs and welfare of deaf children within the Education Division, I am thrilled to be recognised for all the hard work I put in to support the deaf children and their families.

“I personally know, only too well, how society can place limits on the capabilities of deaf young people and it’s vital that we work to provide inspiration and ambition to our deaf children.”

Claire’s husband, Chris Campbell, presented the awards with his children, including Alice and Oliver who were both born deaf and learn to listen and talk with Auditory Verbal therapy, at a celebration event in London on Thursday (November 28^th).

Chris said: “As a family we are thrilled to have presented the awards to such fantastic recipients. The entries surpassed our expectations, and it was incredibly emotional reading about so many truly outstanding achievements from those challenging expectations of what deaf children and young people can achieve as well as going above and beyond to support these young people.

“The three winners and two highly commended recipients embody everything that Claire represented as a champion for deaf children and to celebrate with them was absolutely wonderful.”

You can read more about the award and 2024 finalists here.