A Westminster Schools student is among 20 young people being nationally recognized this year by ESPN for using sports to drive social change.
Rohan Anand, a Georgia honoree for the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award, will be celebrated at the 12th annual Sports Humanitarian Awards on Tuesday, July 14, in New York, part of ESPYS Week. The ceremony, which SportsCenter anchor Christine Williamson will host, takes place the night before the 2026 ESPYS air live on ABC.
The Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award honors young people who use sport as “a catalyst for change,” according to ESPN. This year’s class includes three national honorees and 20 regional recipients, with Anand the sole Georgia recipient.
Anand’s recognition comes a few months after he was named to the Bill of Rights Institute’s 2026 Student Fellowship, a six-month civics and leadership program that selected 20 students nationally. That program paired discussions of primary sources with civic engagement projects and a capstone trip to Philadelphia.
The Sports Humanitarian Awards have run alongside ESPYS Week for over a decade, according to Kevin Martinez, ESPN’s vice president of corporate citizenship. This year’s event will be held at Gotham Hall in Midtown Manhattan, with portions featured in ESPN studio programming and during ESPYS coverage from Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater.
Proceeds from both events benefit pediatric cancer research through the V Foundation.
This year’s national honorees for the Billie Jean King Award are Julia Howe, a Team USA triathlete who founded a youth health education nonprofit; Kelis Armstrong, a Howard University track athlete and public health advocate from Dallas, TX; and Sam Phillips, a former NCAA gymnast working on LGBTQ+ inclusion in college athletics.
The award’s professional honorees this year include Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, a finalist for the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award, and Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, recognized for his advocacy on cardiac emergency preparedness following his on-field collapse in 2023.
The 2026 ESPYS air at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, July 15, on ABC and the ESPN App.
