Title goes to Ofsted!

Last week in Crewe, Niamh Callaghan from Ofsted won the title England and Wales Young Thinker of the Year 2026. Her winning paper looked at the impact of prison education. The adjudicator commented: 'This was a mature analysis of the state of education in prisons. Excellent personal testimony gave a much-needed human dimension to the argument… An idealistic paper with an important message: everyone benefits from prison rehabilitation. And rehabilitation is possible through education'.

The runner-up award went to Melody Horton from Ofwat for an original and thoroughly researched paper on whether commercial climbing on Everest has gone too far – with not enough regulation in place.

The winning group in the Group Challenge was Group A (Niamh Callaghan, Ofsted; Samuel Gilbert, Manchester City Council; Hollie Mullins, The Duke of Edinburgh's Award; Pelumi Olu-Osifeso, Bar Standards Board). Their presentation on the concept of 'freedom' was entertaining and demonstrated excellent team work. Using historical and not so historical examples, they demonstrated how fragile and fleeting so many of the freedoms are that we take for granted.

A special award for best 90-Second Challenge went to Chima Madu from Greater London Authority. When asking 'Which jollof rice is better… Naija jollof or Ghanaian jollof?', he gave a memorable and perfectly timed mini-debate of precision versus passion.

Thank you to all delegates for their dedication and support for each other. Your enthusiasm was much appreciated!

Our next Young England and Wales Programme will be held in Crewe in September 2026. To book now, please see upcoming events (a brochure will be available in May).