YOUTH ADVOCATES OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2025
May 8, 2025 | 6:00pm
National Portrait Gallery & Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Join us for an evening of community as we honor the accomplishments of outstanding young leaders and public health champions from the United States and around the world.
2025 Awards
Champion Award
The Champion Award recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to reducing tobacco use and to improving health and saving lives in the United States and around the world.
Barrie Fiske National Youth Advocate of the Year
The Barrie Fiske National Youth Advocate of the Year Award is presented to one exceptional youth advocate in the U.S. who has worked to reduce tobacco use in their state and community. The award pays tribute to the extraordinary life and work of the late Barrie Fiske, a tireless tobacco control champion and longtime member of our Board who used her strong voice to fight for change.
Group Youth Advocates of the Year
The Group Youth Advocates of the Year Award recognizes a leading U.S.-based youth coalition working to protect their peers and community from tobacco. This group demonstrates the collective power of youth working together to drive meaningful change.
Global Young Ambassador of the Year
The Global Young Ambassador of the Year Award honors a young adult from our Global Young Ambassador Network who has demonstrated excellence in tobacco prevention in areas such as policy change, peer mobilization and media advocacy.
Judy Wilkenfeld Award for International Tobacco Control Excellence
The Judy Wilkenfeld Award for International Tobacco Control Excellence recognizes an advocate from a low- or middle-income country who has worked to significantly reduce tobacco use through policy advocacy. It is given in honor of the late Judy Wilkenfeld, an inspiring advocate and early leader of our international work whose expertise and devotion forever changed the world of tobacco control.
Global Health Advocacy Changemaker Award
Our Global Health Advocacy Incubator supports civil society organizations and advocates working to address critical public health challenges across the globe. The Global Health Advocacy Changemaker Award honors a public health leader from a low- or middle-income country who is advancing public health policies that save lives, reduce disease and prevent injuries.
About Us
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is the leading advocacy organization working to reduce tobacco use and its deadly consequences in the United States and around the world. Through strategic communications and policy advocacy campaigns, we promote the adoption of proven solutions that are most effective at reducing tobacco use and save the most lives. Through our youth initiatives, we foster young leaders who are striving to make the next generation tobacco-free. Our vision is a future free from the death and disease caused by tobacco.
Global Health Advocacy Incubator
The Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), an initiative of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, supports civil society organizations and advocacy movements to pass public health policies that save lives, reduce death and disease, prevent injuries, increase investments in public health and create a healthier and more equitable future for all. GHAI brings a proven advocacy approach and provides strategic support to advocates working across diverse geographies and political systems to enact and implement policies on a wide range of public health issues, including food and nutrition, health systems strengthening and injury prevention.
Photography and filming will be taking place during the event. Your entry into the event constitutes agreement to being photographed and/or filmed for use on our website and social media channels. Press may be in attendance as well.