About the Ester Gluck Awards

The Separated Child Foundation was set up in memory of Ester Gluck. Compassionate and creative, Ester was deeply committed to working for the benefit of refugees and people seeking asylum, particularly children and young people.

In recognition of Ester’s legacy and because we know that young refugees come with a wealth of experience, ideas and drive which can create positive changes in society, we are launching two awards to celebrate two projects most effective at doing so.

The two awards are:-

• A junior award for separated children aged up to 16
• A senior award for separated young people aged between 16 and 21
  

Awards will consist of a voucher for books or educational material, an ‘experience’, such as a visit to the House of Lords, and a programme of activities which will best benefit the two winners of the awards e.g. a fully funded residential, training programme or support with the development of their project.

Who can be nominated?

Children and young people can nominate themselves or can be nominated by someone else (it could be other young people, a teacher, a support worker, etc). The person who delivered the project must be a separated child or young person refugee. It can also be a group of children or young people in those two categories.

There are no restrictions on how long you/they have been in the UK or on your/their asylum status.

Separated Child Award

The person who delivered the project must be a separated child refugee, aged up to 16 years old.

It can be an individual or a group project. If the winning project was a group project, the Trustees of The Separated Child Foundation will decide on a different award that best benefits the whole group.

Separated Young Person Award

The person who delivered the project must be a separated young person refugee, aged between 16 and 21 years old.

It can be an individual or a group project. If the winning project was a group project, the Trustees of The Separated Child Foundation will decide on a different award that best benefits the whole group.

Your idea / project

The aim of our awards is to recognise ideas and completed or ongoing projects that aim to change society, even on a small scale.

Ideas / projects should have:-

• Addressed a problematic issue (e.g., isolation; discrimination; racism; islamophobia; antisemitism; sexism; homophobia and transphobia; climate change etc – the project does not have to be about refugee issues) or made people happier
• Aimed to make society better, more tolerant, happier or more inclusive
• Involved other people, either in the planning and delivery of the project, or in terms of the people who benefited/will benefit from or saw/will see your work
• Been innovative – we know that you may have found inspiration in other people’s work and ideas, and that’s ok, but you must have made your project ‘your own’
• Been delivered anywhere in the UK

Exclusions:-

• Whilst we welcome projects that aimed to change society, we will not be able to consider projects that promoted a political party
• Whilst we welcome projects that aimed to tackle intolerance on the basis of religion, we will not be able to consider projects that promoted any religion

Examples of ideas / projects:-

Your project might be in the form of a film, a fundraiser, a social media campaign, a school assembly, a poem that you shared, a blog, a piece of art, a piece of writing, an event, etc. We are open-minded as to what it looks like! It can be a project that you have already completed, or one that is ongoing.

Timeline

The timeline for applications to the 2024 Ester Gluck Awards will be announced soon.