The Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award celebrates and honors young people who are using the power of sport as a catalyst for change and making a positive impact on society. This year, ESPN has expanded the Award to include three Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award honorees and 20 regional recipients.
Conor Campbell
Conor Campbell is a student-athlete from Trenton, New Jersey. He is a Bonner Community Scholar and has contributed more than 300 hours advocating for youth access to affordable athletic opportunities as well as contributing to research to identify funding partners for the program. When sports programs in Trenton were dropped due to budget cuts, he advocated to reinstate sports by reaching out to the New Jersey Senate, Education Commissioner and Senate Budget Committee Chair. Through his work with Academic Sports Academy and The College of New Jersey, Conor has developed an affordable basketball and enrichment program, providing safe after-school programming for elementary and middle school students. The program includes tutoring, sports activities, youth development, mentoring and life skills development.
Ayanna Shah
Five years ago, Ayanna Shah, along with and her sister Amani, founded Second Serve to shatter barriers to entry in sports by redistributing gently used tennis equipment and offering free clinics to under-resourced youth. In her role as CEO, Shah has grown Second Serve’s profile and impact, recruiting 100 new volunteers, confirming 76 new partnerships, and growing to reach 46 states. As a youth-led organization, Shah empowers young people to grow into leaders by creating service opportunities. She has created a team of 220 young leaders between the ages of 12 and 17, each of which collects equipment and donates to a multitude of low income communities throughout the United States and around the world at large. To date, they have distributed over 27,000 pieces of equipment.
Hannah Smith
Hannah Smith was born with Spina Bifida and was introduced to adaptive sports at the age of 11 through Sportable, an organization that creates opportunities by making sports accessible and inclusive for individuals with physical disabilities and visual impairments. Since joining Sportable a decade ago, Hannah has become a competitive wheelchair basketball player and advocate for the promotion of adaptive sports globally. At Sportable, she developed and launched their inaugural wheelchair basketball camp and women’s wheelchair basketball clinic. As part of a US State Department-sponsored adaptive sports cultural exchange to Turkmenistan in 2019, Hannah served as a youth ambassador representing USA. In 2023, Hannah also created the See It, Be It storytelling project, a social media initiative aimed at showcasing the diverse career aspirations of youth with disabilities and inspire young people to pursue their dreams.
In addition to the three Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award honorees, the following young people have been named regional recipients:
- Graham Allen, San Diego, Calif.
- Devin Arana, Los Angeles, Calif.
- Bryan Aviles, Austin, Texas
- Sara Blau, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
- Alayna Burns, Durham, N.C.
- Jalen Coleman, Inglewood, Calif.
- Mia Darr, Milwaukee, Wis.
- Lila Emerson, Edina, Minn.
- Brandon Hersh, Durham, N.C.
- Aubrey McLin, Davis, Calif.
- Kethan Mokadam, Columbus, Ohio
- Sameer Mullick, Queens Village, N.Y.
- Mikayla Paquette, Boston, Mass.
- Mia PhilIppi, Portland, Oreg.
- Gianni Quintero, Milwaukee, Wis.
- Santo Raggiri, New York, N.Y.
- Anne Stauffer, Owensboro, Ky.
- Kourtni (Mackenzi) Stewart, Mableton, Ga
- Claire Wegmann-Krider, Edina, Minn.
- Graham Wooden, Oneonta, N.Y.