Life-changing achievements of individuals who have overcome challenges in their lives and a community project that is giving leamers new skills and rebuilding their confidence were celebrated at the 2026 Inspire! Adult Learning Awards this week.
Ten award winners and one highly commended learner were celebrated for their commitment to never stop learning and their inspirational journeys at the joyous awards ceremony held at The Coal Exchange, Cardiff.
A highlight of Adult Learners’ Week in Wales, which runs from September 21-27, the awards are co-ordinated by Learning and Work Institute with support from the Welsh Government.
Each Inspire! winner demonstrated how learning can offer second chances, help create new career opportunities, build confidence and help communities become vibrant and successful.
For adults in Wales keen to start their learning journey, in-person taster courses and online sessions are running throughout September, including Adult Learners’ Week.
Advice and information are available locally to inspire people to take up learning as a way of increasing their employability, building life skills and improving their quality of life.
The Inspire! Adult Learning Award winners included Yassmein Hussein who won the Shared Futures Award. She is making a valuable contribution to the Cardiff community where she lives as she strives to improve and share her skills, confidence and knowledge through adult learning.
Having qualified as a pharmacist in Egypt, she decided to change career direction and has completed 13 adult learning courses with Cardiff and Vale College (CAVC) and Cardiff Council. She has formed a Facebook group to supports mothers of neurodivergent children and promotes adult education to other mothers.
New Welsh Speaker Award winner was Hannah Rowlatt, from Cardiff, who is registered blind with a degenerative sight condition and works as Policy and Campaigns Officer for RNIB Cymru.
Hannah says learning Welsh has transformed her life and she is helping other blind and partially sighted learners across Wales by working with The National Centre for Learning Welsh to improve the accessibility of course materials.
Honey Jenkins from Abertillery won the Learner Voice Award. Having achieved her dream of becoming a builder with support from Bridgend College, Honey is now laying the foundations for a new generation of young women to work in a more inclusive and diverse construction industry.
Aaron Jones, winner of the Skills for Work Award, is an inspirational role model for neurodiversity and the transformative power of lifelong learning. A part-time, senior waiter at Penycae Inn, near Swansea, he achieved a Hospitality Supervision and Leadership Apprenticeship with Cambrian Training Company and has become a public speaker about his learning journey and neurodiversity.
Life Change Award winner Fred Murad has been inspired by his two children and late wife, Claire, who died from sepsis in 2021, to return to learning to ensure he has the skills to support them with their education.
Having completed 25 courses over the last five years, Fred is now a welding tutor at Pembrokeshire College and is starting the final year of a Foundation Degree in Inclusive Education with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. His ambition is to become a lecturer.
Young Adult Learner Award winner Javier Griffiths-Payne from Barry left school at the age of 14 without any qualification. Just two years after returning to learning with Cardiff and Vale College, Javier has secured a place to study medicine at the University of Bristol, proving that it is never too late to change the course of your life.
Agri-cation, a community interest company based on a working farm at Bangor-on-Dee near Wrexham, won the Hywel Francis Award for Community Impact. Founded by Cheryl and Andrew Reeves, the company delivers learning programmes that help people develop employability and life skills, improve wellbeing, build confidence and reconnect with their communities.
Daniel Mason from Merthyr Tydfil won the Learning for Better Health Award, crediting adult learning with pulling him through depression after losing his mother. He was referred to the Compass Community Hub in Merthyr Tydfil where a Learning Through the Outdoors course given him a passion for photography and the local environment.
Ageing Well Award winner Julia Anderson, from Tredegar, is also grateful for the support of Compass Community Hub which helped to rebuild her confidence after a rare chronic autoimmune condition abruptly halted her flourishing social care career. She says pottery and other art and craft courses provided a lifeline.
Essential Skills for Life Award winner Shelby Weaver-Slaughter is carving out an inspirational career in social care, having returned to learning with an apprenticeship delivered by Bridgend College. She has now completed a Social Services Practitioner Higher Apprenticeship and hopes to do a university degree.
A highly commended award went to Georgia Miggins, from Swansea, who is inspiring other young people with additional learning needs to believe in their potential and pursue their ambitions.
Georgia has achieved a Grade 5 singing certificate in her quest to become a music therapy teacher. She represented Learning Disability Wales on Welsh Youth Parliament at the age of 17, is a Voices Council member for Mencap and the youngest Learning Disability Wales trustee.
Welsh Government Deputy Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education, Cefin Campbell MS, said: “The Inspire! Adult Learning Award winners show how learning can transform lives.
“Through their determination and commitment, they have developed new skills, built confidence and created new opportunities for themselves and their communities. Their stories are an inspiration and demonstrate why lifelong learning is so important for individuals, communities and Wales as a whole.”
Michelle Matheron, Learning and Work Institute Director for Wales, added: “Lifelong learning offers opportunities for all of us, whether that’s to move into a new career, learn a new skill, support our health and well-being or just do something we enjoy.
“The impact can be transformative, and we can see that through the stories of our award winners. The award winners’ commitment to learning has made a huge difference not only to their lives, but also to those around them.
“Adult learning makes a real difference and it’s vital to support and celebrate adults in Wales who are embracing learning, sometimes overcoming significant personal challenges to do so. In a fast-changing world the message to “never stop learning” is more important than ever.”
