City of Brantford and Brantford Youth Council concluded National Youth Week with the fourth annual Youth Excellence Awards on Monday, May 11, 2026
The event, held at the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts, celebrated future leaders from the City’s Youth Excellence Awards and Youth Leadership Development Program.
During the event, attendees had the opportunity to explore a variety of art displays, shop from the youth makers market and take advantage of the on-site photobooth.
Guests later moved inside the theatre for the the City of Brantford Youth Leadership Development Program graduation and the Brantford Youth Excellence Awards ceremony.
“Tonight, we have a double celebration. We’re here to honour the graduates of the City of Brantford Youth Leadership Development Program; It’s a fairly rigorous program, and certainly it is for those that have gone through and put the time and effort into it. It’s very important that we recognize what it is that they’ve done, and also recognize what hopefully become our future leaders of our community,” Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis told the crowd. “Many of you are also here for the Youth Excellence Awards. The awards celebrate the youth in our community who’ve gone over and above. It could be something they’ve done to improve themselves, it could be something they’ve done to improve their community or it could be a skill that they’ve learned. It’s all about recognizing personal growth, knowing that that’s what makes our city a better city.”
Jacob Tidney, Vice-President of Brantford Youth Council then took the stage to welcome everyone to the event and to bring the evening’s first musical guest up to the stage.
Following Cooper Benaiah’s performance, Kim Rolson, Brantford’s Community Recreation Supervisor, then got the Youth Leadership Development Program graduation underway.
Rolson explained that the program is for youth between the ages 13 and 16 and focuses on in-class training, team building, and a 30-hour volunteer placement at city day camps.
The program supports high school-aged leaders in planning community impact projects and providing input about the needs and experiences of local youth.
Those graduating the program included:
Mason Hoyt, Brandin Stewart Jr., Ny-Heim Walker-Francis, Jeremy Wood, Lexie Baker, Max Bisaillon, Charlize Couch, Meher Gill, Julia Holloway, Jillian Johnson, Clare Jose, Colton Keen, Zoe Roadhouse, Echo Schaeffer, and Zachary Wallace.
As the graduation ceremony wrapped up, Aaron Sopkp then took the stage to perform three cover songs.
Afterwards, Youth Council member Sia Patel got the Youth Excellence Awards underway.
“We’re currently sitting in a room full of amazing youth under the age of 25,” said Patel. “They will be receiving awards tonight after being nominated by local organizations in the categories of well-being and growth, diversity and inclusion, community, and leadership and impact.”
Representatives from several community groups and organizations were welcomed to the stage to say a few words about each recipient, and to hand over their award alongside Mayor Davis.
Award winners included: Liam Mclean, Thakshitha Ramesh, Isaac Halsey, Asia Andrews, Nisrein Alabed, Jacob Tidey, Jillian Johnston, Jocelyn Johnston, Ben Reid, Michael Martin, Samiha Sanjida, Bianca Babics, Nikeishia Balkema and Avia Allen.
Maddisyn Challe also had the opportunity to sing some of her original music in between awards.
The event later wrapped with a performance from Superstar Crush, a four-piece pop/rock group from Hamilton.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
