For the past three years our first Young Ambassador, James Curtis (age 16), has been working hard to raise awareness of auditory verbal therapy in the UK. For example, at the end of 2014, James spoke in front of 400 individuals at the October Club dinner, helping to raise a transformational £500,000 for Auditory Verbal UK.  James was awarded the Children’s Achievement Award at the Children and Young People Now Awards in 2015 in reward for his efforts.

His hard work and commitment to raising expectations of deaf children did not stop there and at the end of 2016, in recognition of his hard work, James was shortlisted for the Directory of Social Change’s Rising Star Award. James is up against two other inspiring young people for this award. You can vote for James until Monday 23 January by following this link. 

In early 2017 James was awarded the Lion's Club Young Ambassadors Award. He secured a £500 bursary for AVUK to develop a peer to peer network of teenage graduates of AVUK and is now one of 13 finalists put forward to the national competition!

Last week James was also bound as an apprentice to the Guild of Mercers' Scholars in the City of London.  This is huge achievement after an in-depth application process.

We are so thankful for James’ continued support and commitment.

To read more about James’ experience, click here.

James at the Guild of Mercers' Scholars in the City of London

James collecting his Lion's Club Young Ambassadors Award