Activism

We need you! Nominate your Changemakers for our 2020 list

In January we put together a list of the top 100 thinkers, creators and agitators doing brilliant things to move the dial in the UK. We're doing it again for 2020 and we need your nominations, tell us who deserves to be in the list at editorial@bigissue.com

Changemaker

The Changemakers page is a place where we celebrate the innovative and inspiring thinkers, creators and agitators who are moving the dial in the UK and beyond.

Introduced a year ago, it has caught the imagination and it’s a privilege for us to shine a light on the inspirational people who are making the world a better place, providing a platform that they are not always offered.

This year alone we have profiled pioneers like Helen Costa, who uses virtual reality to help adopted kids feel safe in their new home. Or Joris Lam’s innovative method of tackling air pollution in Amsterdam by using digital birdhouses that dispense free wifi as a reward for improving air quality.

Or how about Dan White? He created a team of disabled superheroes for his daughter to show that using a wheelchair didn’t mean she was excluded from the Avengers hysteria – and it led to him becoming a heroic disability campaigner.

With the Brexit doom and gloom showing no sign of retreat, these are more than just good news stories – the crucial and often selfless work each Changemaker does is a beacon of light to help us navigate through the uncertain, austerity-wracked times we live in. 

That’s why we devoted an entire edition to Changemakers in January.  We narrowed down a list of 100 people and organisations we believed would shift the narrative  in 2019, looking at work in tech, business, campaigners and campaigns, as well as music and arts, literacy, sport, charities and social policy.

This year we’re doing it again – and we need your help and your suggestions to uncover the best and brightest that Britain has to offer.

Who have we missed? You can help us uncover yet more hidden gems – the people working hard without any recognition to make a difference – and point us towards those with a bigger profile who also deserve to be recognised.

Last year’s list featured a wide variety, Stormzy was in it – he’s had something of a big 2019 headlining a little-known festival known as Glastonbury as well as offering a publishing contract for a new generation of writers under his #Merky Books label.

But there was also space for Jem Stein and his work with The Bike Project, a South London social enterprise fixing up unwanted or abandoned bikes to donate to vulnerable people.

Our criteria for people to feature on the list is simple: this is about investment in a better future for all.

We will reveal the final 100 in a special Changemakers 2020 edition in January – make sure to buy a copy to see if your favourite made the cut!

Now it’s over to you – it’s time to tell us who YOU think deserves to be included in our 2020 special. 

Email editorial@bigissue.com now and share your ideas. We’ll then get on with the tough job of whittling down all the brilliant Changemakers for the definitive list. Mark your email Changemakers 2020.

To give you some inspiration, you can view last year’s list by category below:

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