QSA2025
SPEECHES
Missed the speeches at QSA2025?
Our wonderful speakers have been kind enough to share their speeches with us for you to read.
KEY NOTE SPEECH FROM QSA2024 QUEER OF THE YEAR
LUNA MIDDLETON-ROY
“Hello everyone and huge thanks to all of you for welcoming me here. The atmosphere is fantastic and I am so honoured to be in a room full of such incredible people.
My name is Luna, I use she/they pronouns, and I am a queer, non-binary student based in Nottingham.
In coming to the end of a year of teacher training, in having spent a lot of time working in various primary and secondary schools across the UK, and in being relatively fresh out of the education system myself, I have experienced a real range of queer communities in schools. Some are confident and widespread across the school; others are quiet and underground - but these queer communities do exist everywhere.
When I think about the queer community in schools today, the first thing that comes to mind and unites them is badges. School uniforms aren't typically known as the number one space for self expression, but straight away I see so many pupils proudly sharing parts of their identity with badges on their blazers, ties, jackets, and backpacks. Their message: "I am proud of who I am. I accept you for who you are. You are not alone."
This goes for staff too: those wearing a rainbow badge on their lanyard to signal that they are a safe space, whether as a fellow queer person or an ally. School should be a safe space for queer and trans people, but unfortunately it isn't always. As a teacher, an act as simple as wearing a small pride badge tells pupils that they can be themselves, that homophobia and transphobia will not be tolerated, and that they are not alone.
Last year, I worked with a sixth form pride group in Bishop Auckland in County Durham, and after noticing the incredible range of handmade badges they wore so proudly, decided to have a badge-making session with them and chat about how they were finding school, their worries, and their futures.
Just last week, I watched pupils celebrate Pride Week at my placement secondary school in Nottinghamshire, part of which included a badge and bracelet sale at breaktimes. It was heartwarming to see pupils excitedly come up and ask to buy something for a friend or sibling. I saw a group of 6 or 7 come up and scrape together a pound to buy a lesbian pride badge for their friend, who had just come out to her family and was very excited to celebrate her identity.
At an outreach event earlier this year, I had a pupil come up to me excitedly after the event and tell me that they liked my pride frog and that they felt a lot more comfortable in my careers session because they knew I was looking out for them.
Queer signalling has a rich and powerful history. Whether it be earrings, shoelaces, carabiners, flowers, or badges, for as long as queer people have existed, we have found a way to share pride in our existence with others in our community in a way that protects us from others in society.
At a time when so many queer and trans people are under threat and face new challenges to their safety, simple acts of pride and allyship such as wearing a badge help to show young people that they are safe.
So today I wear my badges with pride, to honour those pupils and staff who make a difference to those around them, whether big or small.
To be in a room full of such wonderful people is a huge honour.
To those of you who work tirelessly behind the scenes to bring about policy changes, who spend hours campaigning to management to allow an event to take place, who put so much thought into planning and logistics to ensure Pride is accessible and inclusive for all: Thank You. You make a difference.
To those of you who are visible role models within your communities, who take up space and use your platforms to advocate loudly for equality, who use your voice for those who may not have one: Thank You. You make a difference.
And especially to those of you who are still students yourselves, in school, in college, in university: you may be in the middle of exam season, you who may still live at home with people who don't accept you for your who are, you may have to fight 2, 3 times as loud to have your voice heard and be taken seriously as a young person - and yet you still fight to preserve the safety and joy of other queer young people.
Thank You. You make a difference.
I stand in a room full of heroes for the LGBTQ+ community and I am in awe of the work you have done, and continue to do, to ensure young queer people are safe and have a bright future. I am proud of us all, and the family that we have built for ourselves, and I have hope for the future.”
SPOKEN WORD POEM ON ‘QUEER POWER’
AISHA AKRAM
“Do you know what it means to be queer?
it means breaking boundaries, bending binaries
and being boldly and beautifully you in your full truth
learning lessons from ancestors that lived a life of activism
so you get the right to be out and proud.
We speak loud about what it means to have queer power,
but do we really understand the history behind it?
Throwing bricks at stonewall to defy discrimination
and demand defiant declaration
that our voices are beacons of hope in a world
where resisting the current reality remains the sole way to
redefine what it means to be queer,
to love in light of fear,
where our voices may shake but our backs will not break.
For queer power is not just june pride parades,
but the courage to take up all the space
when the world tries to erase us.
It’s holding hands with her and holding space for those
who find haven in a home away from home,
in a family where queerness runs through their blood.
tell me,
tell me what queer power means to you?
to me it’s us standing here and refusing to shrink
when they attack parts of our community and embrace others.
to grow the movement taller and the resistance stronger,
To be queer people who rise from the ground up,
shattering the silence that suffocates our stories
and becoming the change we have been waiting for.
Because we can’t wait for the law makers to love us,
for the systems to be built for us,
for the world to wake up
because if we don’t speak our truth
then the world will not stay to take a seat.
we are all the leaders of the revolution that started long before us
and will continue long after us.
Each story shared,
each boundary crossed,
each binary questioned
adds another brick to the foundation we're building together
queer power is intersectional, intentional, infinite —
recognising that our liberation is bound together
so we must help each other to break the shackles.”
QSA FOUNDER’S SPEECH
STEVE KEITH
“Good evening folks, and welcome to The Queer Student Awards!
Although I do this every year, standing here on the stage this evening feels a particularly proud moment for me. I can distinctly remember trying to distract myself from everything going on around the world back in 2020 - reflecting on my career to date, jotting down ideas for ways in which I could dedicate more of my time and my work towards supporting, celebrating and learning from more young LGBTQ+ people - one of those ideas became the seed that has grown into the QSAs. After 5 years of hard work and perseverance with plenty of support from generous Queer folk - many of whom are sitting in front of me right now - we are here, together as our own little family, celebrating this event’s fifth anniversary in the fabulous city of Liverpool - the 3rd city to have hosted us to date, with plenty of others to come in the future.
It would take too long to thank every individual who has played a part in getting us to this important milestone. However, I would like to take a moment to show my appreciation for anyone in the room who has kindly volunteered your time to make this year happen. There’s someone who deserves a special mention amongst you - Eva Echo, who has yet again done an incredible job as head judge supporting this year’s panel in reaching their decisions as to who we will be announcing as our winners and runners-up of 2025. I’ve appreciated what probably now amounts to hundreds of voice notes over the last 12 months and your continued enthusiasm and dedication to my vision for this event.
Events like this don’t just happen, they take a lot of planning and when I decided on this year’s theme ‘Queer Power’ last autumn the world that we are living in was a very different place but there were plenty of signs around us that the direction of change was sadly unlikely to be very positive for LGBTQ+ folks, especially those in the our community who are transgender and non-binary. I wanted a theme that could encourage us to lean into the strength and resilience each of us have often been forced to develop as a result of simply being ourselves, whilst also recognising the fact that the changes in the world have undoubtedly often left us feeling powerless. It was one of the reasons that I chose Dec 10th last year to open entries - the date itself marking the 40th anniversary of the Pits and Perverts concert, a benefit gig organised by the London Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners group - an event that has become a symbol of defiance and unity in the face of adversity. Something I hope the QSAs has become and will continue to be.
I also wanted a theme which celebrated the ‘Queers of Power’ (as finalist Offa calls it) - those being the finalists and winners from the last 5 years including the last 4 winners of ‘Queer of the Year’ - Jack, Grace, Taj and Luna. Ben (and a couple of the judges in the room) have been on this journey since we crowned Jack our first Queer of the Year on 1st July 2021 - another date purposefully chosen to coincide with another powerful moment for the LGBTQ+ community in the UK - the first Pride march in London in 1972. I read every single entry, every single year and I’m continually blown away by everything that you are all achieving against a backdrop that continually challenges our existence and place in society. That alone is worth a huge round of applause…
Now, before I leave the stage and allow you all to attack the buffet table that has been laid out back in the ballroom, I’d like to take the opportunity to highlight two young people in the room this evening who haven’t been given the same opportunity as this year’s finalists to shine through these awards.
The first, some of you may have already met on the pink carpet this evening, is Niamh Brownhill. Niamh was the first winner of Role Model of the Year: Student back in 2021 when the event was hosted on Zoom. Niamh was nominated by one of the teachers at her college in Sheffield who described her as ‘an ambassador for both empowering and celebrating people, no matter their story whose work gave people a voice, helped the community to grow and which allowed people to feel comfortable and most importantly to be themselves’. It’s an absolute pleasure to have you here with us this evening. You didn’t get a moment on the QSA stage in 2021 so it’s time to collect your award! Can we have a round of applause for Niamh please everyone!
The die hard QSA fans in the room will notice that this year’s event is missing two categories - one of which I was personally gutted that we couldn’t run this year, Rising Star of the Year - a category which usually celebrates the LGBTQ+ apprentice, graduate or intern who has best demonstrated their ambition and potential to become a future business leader.
Sadly, we did not receive enough entries to run the category this year and as a result the judges were unable to learn about and judge the fantastic work detailed in the entry we did receive. Having spent 8 years of my career, before moving to work for myself, in a role that championed the opportunities and doors that apprenticeships can open for our young people - I can’t let everything that you have achieved in the last 12 months slip by us this evening.
Since coming out at work, Matthew Barrett has become an inspiring advocate for inclusivity at E.ON Next. In the nomination we received, his authenticity and courage has inspired others in their business to embrace their true selves. He has taken responsibility for ensuring they had a presence at both Birmingham and Nottingham Prides last year, strengthening their ties with the wider community and been instrumental in revitalising their LGBTQ+ employee resource group.
You deserve to be celebrated just as much as our finalists this evening, so your nomination has been judged alongside the other finalists for Queer of the Year who will be revealed later this evening, to ensure that this important category for the QSAs remains visible and continues to be celebrated. Please join me on stage to collect your highly commended award for the Rising Star of the Year category.
That’s all from me, for now, have a fantastic evening!”