The 27th Pride of Britain Awards were held at Grosvenor House in London on Monday, October 19, honouring a volunteer security guard who confronted a knife-wielding terrorist at a Manchester synagogue and a 12-year-old from Ebbw Vale in Wales who steered his mother’s car to a stop after she fainted at the wheel. The ceremony, organised by the Daily Mirror with P&O Cruises, was hosted by Carol Vorderman, 65, and Ashley Banjo, 38, of Diversity, and was broadcast on ITV1 on Thursday, October 22, OK! and the Manchester Evening News reported.
Andrew Franks won the Outstanding Bravery award for his actions during the attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester on October 2, 2025, the Bury Times reported. The attacker, Jihad Al-Shamie, drove a car into people outside the synagogue, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, before attempting to enter the building with a knife. Franks, a volunteer security guard, was unarmed when he confronted Al-Shamie. He was stabbed several times in the face and neck, but pushed the attacker over and ran to warn those inside to lock the doors. His intervention delayed the attacker long enough for hundreds of worshippers to barricade themselves inside, and armed police shot Al-Shamie dead at the scene.
Two men, Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, were killed in the attack, the Bury Times reported. Franks, who works as a chef for an NHS mental health unit in Greater Manchester, suffered life-changing injuries to his head, neck, spine and face, and, according to the Pride of Britain Awards, died three times on the operating table during surgery. His friend Jonathan Patoff said: “Andrew is a quiet and unassuming good man who behaved heroically in defending the congregants, giving others time to lock the door and save lives.” Franks was selected by the Pride of Britain judging panel from tens of thousands of public nominations.
The Child of Courage award went to Zac Howells, 12, from Ebbw Vale, who was travelling with his mother, Nicola Crump, from Wales to a Christmas market in Warwickshire last December when she began to feel unwell on the A40 in Herefordshire. She slowed the car and pulled partly onto a verge before losing consciousness, but with the automatic car still in drive and her foot on the accelerator, the vehicle moved back towards the dual carriageway and accelerated towards 60mph. Zac grabbed the steering wheel, steered the car into the central reservation to slow it against the barrier, switched off the engine and dialled 999, using the car’s satellite navigation to give their location. His mother was unconscious for around seven minutes. “It must have been really frightening for him but he knew he had to do something,” she said. Footballer Jack Grealish presented Zac’s award, the Manchester Evening News reported.
The Lifetime Achievement award went to Asif Hasan, who retired after some 30 years leading paediatric cardiac surgery at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, where he performed an estimated 400 transplants and trained hundreds of children’s heart surgeons, BritBrief reported. Children whose lives he had saved joined him on stage. “There have been big highs and big lows. I have seen human resilience and courage up close,” Hasan said.
Among the other winners, Brandon Hulcoop received the King’s Trust Young Achiever award, having set up his own business making accessible products for visually impaired people after more than 1,000 failed job applications. Gregor Corse was named Good Morning Britain Young Fundraiser of the Year, having raised £80,000 for charity through walking challenges despite a neurological condition. Elaine Oakey took the P&O Cruises Inspiration Award for more than a decade spent transforming the lives of young amputees through football, work inspired by her son Jamie, 23, who was born without a foot and missing the lower part of his right leg. Dr Eleanor Prior, a GP from Bedford, received Special Recognition after staying for hours to treat the severely wounded in the front carriage of a train that crashed near Bedford in June, an accident that killed the driver and injured 162 people, despite her own injuries.
Special Recognition also went to Elaine Roberts and Luke Ambler, for Andy’s Man Club, the male suicide-prevention charity Roberts founded with her son-in-law after her son Andrew died aged 23. Their award was presented by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who said: “Forget celebrities, the real stars were on the stage.” Online-safety campaigners Ellen Roome, Esther Ghey and Ian Russell were likewise honoured with Special Recognition. The full winners’ list also included Kirsty Waugh, who shared the Child of Courage award, and This Morning Local Hero Florence Coke.
Vorderman said presenting the ceremony remained “one of the greatest privileges” of her life. “They’ve shown incredible courage, kindness and determination, often in circumstances most of us can barely imagine,” she said of the winners. “This night belongs to them. We might have the famous faces, the glamour and the big celebration, but our winners are the real stars.” The ceremony was held on Monday, October 19, and the broadcast followed on ITV1 on Thursday, October 22; the programme is available on ITVX.
Sources: OK!; Manchester Evening News; Bury Times; BritBrief; Pride of Britain Awards.
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