Youth/Young Adult Voice Award Nomination

This award will recognize and celebrate a youth/young adult under the age of 26 in North Carolina who has dedicated their individual talents, whether through sharing their story, advocacy or volunteering, to successfully promote resilience mental health and/or substance use recovery. All Nominations will be reviewed and selected by a panel that will include young adult peers in North Carolina.  Award recipients will be provided FREE REGISTRATION to the conference! Nominations should describe how a youth/young adult has used their voice to do any of the following:            

Educate agencies and the provider network workforce (including schools, child welfare, law enforcement and community-based organizations) who support youth/young adults receiving mental health, substance use and/or trauma-related services;

Promote recovery-oriented systems of care by advocating for meaningful youth/young adult participation as full partners in service planning and systems level decision-making; and/or· 

Advocate for system-wide oriented change through youth-led/guided approaches that is trauma-informed, promotes positive youth development and individualized pathways to mental health and/or substance use recovery. 

Please complete the contact information below and provide a description of the nominee’s recovery accomplishments.  Nomination descriptions should be 500–750 words or less OR you may send us a video!  If you would like to send a video, please include a link to your video on a video hosting site such as YouTube, Vimeo, etc. If you have any questions, please contact Ellen.Kesler@Advocatehealth.org.

Nomination Deadline: December 5, 2025 | Award Recipient Notification: January 9, 2026