Jeriah Kibusi and Maryam Drammeh win BAFTA’s 2022 Young Presenters Competition

Today, BAFTA announces 11-year-old Jeriah Kibusi and 16-year-old Maryam Drammeh as winners of its national Young Presenters Competition: one of BAFTA’s key initiatives for children and young people to spotlight and nurture the nation’s budding creative talent.

An expert judging panel, including BBC Newsround Presenter De-Graft Mensah, and actors Inel Tomlinson and George Webster, selected Maryam and Jeriah as the winning entrants, from Camden and Sydenham respectively. For his winning entry, Jeriah shared gratitude for the positive influences in his life who have helped him gain confidence to perform in front of thousands of people at the Royal Albert Hall. Maryam shared a poem she wrote especially for the competition, addressing the importance of mental health awareness. You can watch clips of their interviews here.

This is the first time BAFTA has split the competition into two age categories (11-14 and 15-18), in recognition of the breadth of entries submitted. The winners will receive a host of unique opportunities to present across BAFTA’s Children and Young People’s programmes, as well as external appearances over the next 12 months.

Kicking off with The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival in October, Jeriah and Maryam will represent BAFTA, introduce events and record filmed content for the organisation’s social channels and website. Following this, they will take-up a host of red carpet opportunities throughout the year including at the BAFTA’s Children & Young People Festival later this November.

Jeriah Kibusi said: “I still can’t believe this is actually happening! This is such an amazing achievement for me; I am so excited about this new journey and the different people I will get to meet. I will make my new BAFTA family proud!”

Maryam Drammeh said: “Bafta is an amazing opportunity and I feel very privileged and very grateful, most importantly I am raring and ready to start presenting! The Cheltenham Literature Festival is very close to my heart, as I am a keen lover for poetry and literature, this will be a very exciting event for me and I am looking forward to this event in October!”

Lisa Prime, Head of Children & Young People’s Programme at BAFTA added: “BAFTA’s Young Presenters initiative aims to improve confidence, self-esteem and resilience whilst ensuring everyone also has fun.  The competition, now in its sixth year, helps us identify young talent from across the UK to host BAFTA content and represent the charity. I’m so excited to work with Jeriah and Maryam over the next year - their enthusiasm and excitement is contagious.”

Rose-Anne Thomson, Deputy Head at Eleanor Palmer Primary School said: “Jeriah is one of those very special people who lights up every room they enter. He has such joy and enthusiasm for every new experience and we are very lucky to have had him as a pupil here at Eleanor Palmer. Not only is he exceptionally talented but he is also endlessly supportive and encouraging to others. This generosity and warmth, coupled with charm and charisma, is a rare combination, and we were thrilled to hear he had been chosen as BAFTA's new Young Presenter. This will be a fantastic opportunity for him and I have no doubt he will love every minute!”

To enter the competition, children and young people aged between 10-18 years’ old were invited to create and submit a short video on how they express themselves, linked to the theme of Children’s Mental Health Week. 2022 marks the sixth year the Young Presenters Competition has been running. It forms part of a wide-ranging programme for children and young people including the BAFTA Kids’ Roadshow with Place2Be aimed at primary school students, and its Young Game Designers (YGD) initiative, open to 10-18-year-olds – offering skills, networks and nurturing creative confidence to pursue careers in the games industry.

Previous winners including Samaira Iqbal, Gracie Gosling, Tianna Moore and Braydon Bent, have gone on to interview members of the Royal Family and leading figures across the creative and sports industries, from BAFTA’s President HRH The Duke of Cambridge, to England and Manchester United footballer Jesse Lingard, and the cast of the Netflix hit show Heartstopper.