Wings of Hope Achievement Awards Ceremony Class of 2023-24
On Friday 11th October 2024, the Wings of Hope Achievement Awards (WOHAA) 2023-2024 Finals Awards Ceremony took place at London Business School in Regent’s Park, London.
Several hundred students, teachers, parents, and friends packed out the Nuffield Hall and enjoyed an entertainment-filled evening with trophy presentations, speeches from guest judges, and supporters, with performances by award winning singers, student bands, poets, and dancers. The host presenter for the evening was presenter and DJ, AJ King.
Amongst those giving out trophies included
- Mrs Rajni Sriram & Dr R. Sri Ram – Founders of The Wings of Hope
- Andrea Thompson – Editor-in-Chief of Marie Claire UK
- Professor Narayan Naik – Professor of Finance, London Business School
- Mrs Sangeeta Doraiswami – Her Excellency, wife of the Indian High Commissioner to the UK
- Kirsty Keoghan – General Manager, Global Head of Fashion, eBay
- Jamila Saidi – Global Head of Digital Commerce, Culture and Lifestyle, on behalf of the UK’s Business and Trade department
- Oliver Lam-Watson – Paralympian, and European Champion
- Smruti Sriram, Co-Founder WOHAA
Winners Sister Strength with Sarah Hogg, Sangeeta Doraiswami, Rajni Sriram, Dr R Sri Ram, and AJ King
Andrea Thompson Editor-in-Chief, Marie Claire, UK, with Team A Gift from GIFT
The celebrations were a culmination of the work of the class of 2023-2024 WOHAA students who have spent several months completing their WOHAA projects. Earlier this year, shortlisted teams presented their projects to a judging panel at Westminster. Projects included breaking world record attempts, football tournaments, cultural evenings, caring for the elderly, litter picking and much more.
Rajni Sriram, Co-Founder of The Wings of Hope said:
“For our 20th anniversary, we were delighted to have so many students take part in WOHAA and show that the programme is relevant more than ever. The life skills students learn through the programme: teamwork, leadership, philanthropy, creativity, problem-solving, organisation, sustainability, and building connections with their local communities, have shown to create wonderful young leaders in education, the workplace and beyond.
WOHAA students come from all backgrounds – we champion students from schools across the country, regardless of socio-economic background, gender, race, or ability. To have over 40,000 students from over 600 schools complete the programme since 2004 is just a wonderful achievement for all our teams, teachers, parents, and students involved.”
Founders: Mrs Rajni Sriram and Dr R Sri Ram
Entertaining the audiences were dancers from the Pineapple Performing Arts School, Natalia Fooks, the BBC’s Young Chorister of the Year, Senior Winner, a poem from Teams 4 Dimensions and KEMA, and a band performance from Birds & Bees from St. Cecilia’s School.
Professor Narayan Naik, Professor of Finance, London Business School
Oliver Lam-Watson, Paralympic and European Champion, with Team Chain Reaction and AJ King
Kirsty Keoghan, General Manager, Global Fashion, eBay, and Community Action winner, Make Your Wish
Jamila Saidi, from UK's Department for Business and Trade, with Team FIIRN, and AJ King
Student winners and runners up were presented trophies for their achievements and a video of their work was presented on the large screen for audiences to see their project efforts.
The full list of winners and their categories is listed below.
The overall winners, who displayed outstanding skills in all areas that the judges assessed teams on including awareness raised for the charity, commitment to the community, funds, presentation, creativity and innovation. The 2023-2024 Overall Winners were team Sister Strength from St. Cecilia’s School.
“I cannot believe we are standing here. When we heard about the programme in assembly last year, my sister said we had to do this, we just HAD to do this. WOHAA has given me so much that I cannot put it into words. We have pushed ourselves outside of our comfort zones, and really loved every aspect of the programme. For any student out there YOU HAVE TO DO WOHAA. It gives you so many opportunities for workshops, and ways to meet people, that it is just the most incredible thing we have done in our lives” said Martha and Grace from the winning team.
Smruti Sriram, Wings of Hope, and Team Fuelling Futures, and AJ King
A poem by Team KEMA
Dancers from Pineapple Performing School of Arts
Natalie Fooks - Team FIIRN, and BBC Young Chorister of the Year Senior Winner
Poem by Team 4 Dimensions
The overall prize is an expenses paid trip to India to teach at one of the international education projects that Wings of Hope supports.
Would you like to participate in WOHAA – registrations for the 2024-2025 programme are now live. You can register directly as students or as schools here.
The full list of winners and their work is below.
| School Name | Team | Winner | Runner Up | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Cecilia's Church of England School | Sister Strength | Winner | OVERALL | |
| Royal Masonic School for Girls | IMMARC | Runner Up | OVERALL IN SPORTS | |
| Queen Elizabeth School for Girls | Fuelling Futures | Runner Up | OVERALL MOST FUNDS | |
| St. Olave's Grammar School | KEMA | Runner Up | OVERALL MOST ENTREPRENUERIAL TEAM | |
| Mount House School | For the Children | Winner | Community Action | |
| Copthall School | Wonders of the World | Winner | Excellence in Culinary | |
| Dulwich College | Chain Reaction | Winner | Excellency in Sports | |
| Ilford County High School for Girls | Make your wish | Winner | Community Action | |
| King Edward VI Camphill School for Girls | Gaia | Winner | Most Entrepreneurial Team | |
| Kingsdale Foundation | Camilla's Team | Winner | Excellence in Arts | |
| Rodborough School | Project India | Winner | Excellence in Sports | |
| Whitgift Boys | Gift from Gift | Winner | Most Awareness Raised | |
| Oxford International College | Lumiere | Winner | Most Entrepreneurial Team | |
| Azhar Academy | Graphene | Runner Up | Best Presentation | |
| Queen Elizabeth School for Girls | Three Musketeers | Runner Up | Excellency in Culinary | |
| Royal Masonic School for Girls | Care Bears | Runner Up | Excellence in Sports | |
| Brooke House College | Fire Flies | Runner Up | Community Action | |
| Shefield High School for Girls | FIIRN | Runner Up | Excellence in Arts | |
| Haberdashers' School for Girls | Impact Innovators | Runner Up | Community Action | |
| The Malling School | Athena | Runner Up | Most Entrepreneurial Team |
