Spirit of London
The 2010 Judging Panel
The Damilola Taylor Trust select the judges so they reflect all political denominations and view points as well as celebrities and youth campaigners so as to have an eclectic mix of adult Londoners that young people feel honoured to have been judged by.
The judges for 2010 are:
Camila Batmanghelidjh
Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2005), Woman of the Year (2006) and an author (She has written Shattered Lives: Children Who Live with Courage and Dignity and other papers) Camila has a rich history working with under privileged children. This soon led to the establishment of 'The Place To be' - a national project serving 20,000 children a year. By the mid 1990s she had founded Kids Company, a charity which supports children with severe behavioural, emotional and social difficulties resulting from significant levels of trauma and neglect.
Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor has campaigned tirelessly to help make local communities better places for young people to grow up in. Since the death of his son Damilola in November 200 his work has seen him travel the length and breadth of the country speaking to young people about the need to be positive and keep themselves on the right path in life.
Oona King
Oona King is a politician, broadcaster and a writer. She is running to be Labour's candidate for the job of Mayor of London. She was MP for Bethnal Green Bow from 1997-2005, and became PPS to the Cabinet Minister for Trade Industry. After leaving Parliament, she worked as an adviser to Gordon Brown in Number 10 Downing Street, before becoming Channel 4's head of diversity.
Theresa May
The current Home Secretary and one time Chairman of the Conservative party, Theresa has long been a supporter of young people and children's charities. Theresa spent time working at the Bank of England in her early career and was also a councillor for many years in the London Borough of Merton.
Alan Johnstone
The West London born and educated Honourable member for Hull West has held a number of key cabinet position prior to becoming one of the few London born Home Secretaries to have held the post.
The shadow Home Secretary is a great supporter of charities that involve young people and as an ex postman, acutely aware of the need for the positive promotion of local communities.
Rio Ferdinand
Brought up on the Streets of Peckham SE5, Rio first came to prominence at West Ham and is now of course a huge icon at Manchester United and for England. Rio works tirelessly in his spare time to also support worthy causes and was one of the founder patrons of The Damilola Taylor Trust.
Theo Paphitis
From running his school tuck shop at the age of 15 to taking his place on the hugely popular Dragons Den programme, Theo has always been a businessman who works with a smile on his face. As Chairman of his beloved Millwall football club he led them to their first even FA Cup final appearance. His many business successes include the stationary specialist, Ryman. He is passionate about working with young people and has great belief in the young people of London.
Ashley Cole
Hailing from North London, Ashley has long been considered one of the best Left full backs in world football. His career with Arsenal, Chelsea and England is well documented but his work supporting children's charities and positive causes is also an inspiration. Ashley has worked on many anti youth violence campaigns and was a founder ambassador of the "Release the Peace" campaign set up by the Damilola Taylor Trust.
David Haye
The current World heavyweight champion hails from Bermondsey and spent his early years learning his skills under the railway arches of Lambeth at the famous old Fitzroy Lodge gym. A great champion not just inside but also outside the ring he is a great role model for the young people of London.
Christine Ohuruogu MBE
Christine Ohoruogu is a proud flag bearer for the London 2012 Olympic games and London is equally proud of her for her stunning achievements on the athletics world stage. Gold winner at the world games 2007 and Olympic games of 2008, Christine who hails from Newham in East London was also a top netball player in her school and university days.
Frank Maloney
Frank Maloney is a great London character whose skill in sports management saw him partner fellow Londoner Lennox Lewis as one of the greatest "double acts" in world boxing. Outside of his business interests in the boxing World, Frank is very serious about the promotion of London positively and once ran for the job of Mayor. He does more than most for charity, especially where young people are involved.
Leona Lewis
Since having won the 3rd series of the X factor this daughter of Hackney in East London has fast become one of the top recording artists in the World. When her excellent debut album "spirit" hit the top of the US Billboard 200 charts she became the first British solo artist to achieve the feat of having a debut album chart at number 1. A hugely inspirational figure for millions of young Londoners, everyone involved in the Spirit of London project is proud to have Leona involved as a judge.
Bashy
Ashley Thomas AKA Bashy, hails from Chiswick in West London. He is one of the countries top Grime artists and is also now establishing himself as an actor of some esteem. Having spent time at the BRITS school in Croydon Bashy has worked extremely hard to gain success and is a good role model to young people.
Ashley Walters
Born and raised in Peckham, Ashley knows first hand the impact of street life and it's potential for leading people astray. He first came to people's attention as a singer/rapper before going back into his first love - acting. With roles in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (aged 10) and Grange Hill (aged 14), he has been able to experience the benefits of using your talent as a power for good, and is now a patron of the Damilola Taylor Trust.
Tasha Danvers
Tasha is the 400m Hurdles 2008 Olympic Bronze Medallist and a serious gold medal prospect for London 2012. Tasha is a British Track & Field athlete born and raised in London, England to parents Donald and Dorrett. After studying and training in USA at the prestigious (USC) University of Southern California.
Her mission in life is to inspire others through her example, and help young people realise and live to their fullest potential. Whilst not competing, Danvers is a keen artist.
Brooke Kinsella
Brooke attended the Anna Scher acting school in Islington before going on to appear in Eastenders as well as many film features. Since the tragic loss of her much loved brother Ben in 2008 Brooke has become one of the leading campaigners against knife crime and youth violence in general.
Brooke loves working with young people and has ambitions to open a youth drama group when her busy schedule allows.
Simon Hughes
The Deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats has been a fixture as a London MP since 1983. Simon's work as an anti violence campaigner is well documented but rather less is known about his appearance in a dancing troupe on Top of the Pops during the 1970's. A great friend of the Damilola Taylor Trust, Simon is very active around the Borough of Southwark where his Yellow taxi cab is always prominent.
Dominic Mohan
Former Editor of the extremely popular Bizarre column in the Sun newspaper, Dominic became Editor of the Sun in 2009. A great activist for charity campaigns it was Dominic's idea to have "Do they know its Xmas" re-recorded in 2004. Dominic presented the London Legend award to Sir Michael Caine at the inaugural awards event.
Shaun Bailey
Shaun, born in London, is a Youth Worker, commentator and politican who is using his experiences to help make a positive change. His drive came from 15 years in the Army Cadet force, combined with a 20 year Gymnastic career. Following studies at South Bank University and jobs which included working as a security guard at Wembley, he co-founded 'My Generation' - a charity set up to address the social problems facing young people and their families.
Tim Campbell
Social Entrepreneur Tim, sprung to public prominence when winning the inaugural "Apprentice" TV show on the BBC. Alan Sugar has subsequently been proven to have been spot on with his choice as Tim has moved on from his successful time with Amstrad to become a top businessman in his own right. His company the Bright Ideas Trust is now a leading charitable trust supplying opening and opportunities for young people looking to make their way in business. Tim is also a cabinet office social entrepreneur ambassador.
Chris Grayling
The MP for Epsom and Ewell started his professional life in Broadcast Journalism working for the BBC and also Channel 4 before moving into politics. Born in London, Chris is a keen sportsmen and once hit the Australian fast bowling legend "Legend" Dennis Lillee for 4 in a charity Cricket Match. The Minister for work and pensions is a big supporter of SOLA having also been a judge in 2009.
Frank Warren
Frank is one of the best known boxing promoters in the world. Born and bred in Islington his love of Boxing is only matched by his love of his beloved Arsenal. Although better known for his work with the likes of Nassem Hamed, Amir Khan, Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe and Nigel Benn, Frank's devotion to the sport includes working with young people to keep them off the streets by getting them into his boxing academy programmes.
A major contributor to many charities, Frank was inducted into Boxing's Hall of Fame in June 2008.
Javed Khan
Javed is currently responsible for working across London's key agencies and Whitehall departments to improve inter-agency working to drive down serious youth violence as head of the London serious youth violence board. He works closely with all of London's 33 local councils, the Metropolitan Police the Mayor of London's office, as well as the Home Office, Department for Education, CLG, Probation Service, Youth Justice Board, and many other agencies that have a stake in reducing youth crime.
He is the lead reporting officer to a complex multi-agency board, and advises senior government officials and ministers.
Barry & Margaret Mizen
Barry and Margaret have become prominent campaigners against youth violence since the death of their son Jimmy in 2008. Further to the Peoples march against knife crime in September of that year they set up Families Utd as a family collective of bereaved families who had lost young ones in similar circumstances.
They are an inspiration to everyone that meets them and when they joined Richard Taylor on stage to present a special "Role Model" award to the founders of Diversity at the inaugural SOLA event there was hardly a dry eye in the venue.
Wayne and Mete
The founder partners of "Dance Aid" a social enterprise project that teaches socially deprived and under privileged youngsters how to DJ and mix music. Wayne and Mete also raise money for other charities through their regular dance nights at leading club venues and are a fixture on the fund raising circuit helping others.
Dickson Etuhu
Dixon is an established Premier League footballer and Nigerian International. He has a great passion for working with and supporting young people and having settled in London with Fulham has determined to work with London based youth charities.
His demeanour inside and outside of the game is positive and he is a good role model for young players and fans alike.
Alexander Rose
Alexander Rose set up his inspirational STOP campaign shortly after one of his best friends was lost to him as a victim of youth violence. He has used his passion for design to help inspire others and his "education is the key" pendants made from melted down guns and knives have also been very successful. He has been personally endorsed by Archbishop Tutu amongst others for his campaigning work.
He brought the inaugural SOLA event to a close with a moving speech about positivity and the need for young people to rise to the challenges they face and not to allow negative influences to interfere with their ambition.
Levi David Addai
Emerson King
Emerson is a cancer biologist. After completing his PhD in Molecular Genetics at UCL in 2002, Emerson held research positions at Columbia University and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Emerson has published in prestigious science journals including Nature.
In 2009, Emerson founded the biotech company Epiome Ltd, which develops research tools for cancer epigenetics as well as technical resources for science education.
AJ
Starting his first business at the age of 17, AJ has proven anyone can achieve anything, known for creating & developing flagship brands such as MajorFm.com & UKRecordShop.com, he has now developed his business interests into publishing, fashion & telecoms all under the collective known as the secret network.
AJ is now developing Gifted Genius, Sculpt Beauty, Six2 Media, Freedom Talk and Don't Doodle, seems this entrepreneur isn't scared of spreading his wings and is passionate to work with young people wanting to take the first steps in business.
