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Today BAFTA launches its 2026 Young Presenters Competition with children’s mental health charity Place2Be to find the next BAFTA Young Presenters. The competition is part of Children’s Mental Health Week (Monday 9 February – Friday 13 February) this year centred on the theme, ‘This is My Place’. The launch also marks the 10th anniversary of BAFTA’s partnership with Place2Be, celebrating a decade of collaboration supporting the education and wellbeing of children and young people across the UK.
Every year BAFTA runs a competition to find aspiring young presenters to host BAFTA’s events and content for children and young people. Two lucky winners, one aged 10-14 and one aged 15-18, then have the chance to front content for the Young BAFTA YouTube channel and represent BAFTA at special events around the country.
To enter the competition, children and young people aged between 10-18 years’ old are invited to create and submit a short video on what Place2Be’s theme for Children’s Mental Health Week 2026, ‘This is My Place,’ means to them.
Previous BAFTA Young Presenters winners have conducted some of their dream interviews, speaking with stars including Cynthia Erivo, David Tennant, Ke Huy Quan, Dame Judi Dench, Big Zuu, and Stacey Dooley. They have hosted digital content for the Young BAFTA YouTube Channel, taken part in exclusive workshops and prestigious industry events, attended press junkets, and presented on stage, interviewing leading talent across stage, screen, media, and games. This May, last year’s winners will also be interviewing talent on the 2026 BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises red carpet.
The competition opens today, Tuesday 10 February, and closes April 16. For more details on how to enter the BAFTA Young Presenters competition, visit here.
Amanda Demwell, Young BAFTA programmer, says: “As we celebrate 10 years of our partnership with Place2Be, we’re proud to continue supporting young people to find their voice and their place in the world. Presenting isn’t just about being on camera – it’s about curiosity, confidence and learning how to communicate ideas clearly, all of which are vital skills for life and future career growth. Through the BAFTA Young Presenters competition, we want to encourage young people to be inquisitive, express themselves, and build the confidence to speak up, share their stories and feel empowered in who they are.”
Place2Be Chief Executive, Catherine Roche, says: “Since Place2Be first launched Children’s Mental Health Week in 2015, the campaign week has been embraced by thousands of schools, families, children and young people across the UK. The theme this year is ‘This is My Place’, because when our young people feel that they belong, it empowers them to contribute positively to the world and make a real difference. Through our campaign week we’re encouraging peers, families, schools and communities to create inclusive and nurturing environments, where children and young people can say “This is My Place”. As we celebrate children and young people feeling valued, and encouraged, we’re delighted – once again – to have the support of our long-term partner BAFTA and their terrific Young Presenters. We hope these videos will inspire all children and young people to explore and celebrate the places, people and activities that create for them that deep sense of belonging.”
2026 marks a decade of the award-winning partnership between BAFTA and Place2Be. Over the past 10 years, the collaboration has delivered the Schools Time Capsule Project (preserved at 195 Piccadilly and set to be opened in 2047 for BAFTA’s 100th anniversary) and dozens of Roadshows in primary schools across some of the UK’s most deprived communities. These initiatives have helped foster transferable skills such as self-confidence, creativity, and communication through interactive workshops, masterclasses, and sessions with industry special guests.
As part of Children’s Mental Health Week 2026, BAFTA has created a new video mini-series exploring the importance of building self-awareness for wellbeing. The series sees last year’s BAFTA Young Presenters winners Elizabeth Okogwu and Afraz Hussain sit down with comedian and actor Henry Rowley, broadcaster Joe Tasker, performer and motivational speaker Arti Shah, and actor and musician Jacob Anderson. The series captures the presenters reflecting on this year’s theme, ‘This Is My Place’, and what it means to them. The stars talk about mental health, the importance of belonging, and explore how developing their self-awareness has helped them to grow their confidence and a positive sense of self.
The interviews are available to watch on Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week website and the Young BAFTA YouTube channel.
Notes to editors:
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About BAFTA
BAFTA’s mission as a charity is to champion the creative and cultural importance of the screen arts across film, games and television. Through its Awards ceremonies and year-round programme of talent initiatives and learning events that include masterclasses, lectures, scholarships, bursaries and mentoring schemes in the UK and North America, BAFTA identifies and celebrates excellence, discovers, inspires and nurtures new screen talent, and enables learning and creative collaboration. For more, visit bafta.alchemy.construction. BAFTA is a registered charity (no. 216726).
About Place2Be
Place2Be is a leading children’s mental health charity providing school-based support and in-depth training programmes to improve the emotional wellbeing of pupils, families, teachers and school staff. The charity currently provides an embedded mental health service in over 650 UK primary and secondary schools, supporting a school community of around 300,000 children and young people. place2be.org.uk
About Children’s Mental Health Week
Launched in 2015, Children’s Mental Health Week aims to equip, empower and give a voice to children across the UK. Each year, Place2Be’s clinical experts develop free resources and activities to encourage schools, families and organisations to take part in the week and have important conversations about mental health. Children’s Mental Health Week is kindly supported with funds raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and awarded by Postcode Children Trust, and Findel, a leading supplier of education resources. Learn more, and access free resources at childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk.
