The highest honor given to a Boys & Girls Club member in Wisconsin is the Boys & Girls Club’s “State Youth of the Year.” Fourteen Wisconsin finalists will compete for that title which will be awarded Monday night, March 13, at the Premier Park Hotel in downtown Madison.
Bally Sports — in conjunction with the Green Bary Packers, Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee Bucks — will award $20,000 in scholarships to winners, in addition to prizes from Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
Wisconsin clubs work with over 100,700 youth across 199 sites in 74 cities, and local competitions recently narrowed the field down to the 14 finalists who will meet with judges on the Capitol Square on Monday and will be scored on speeches and interviews. While in Madison, the finalists will also meet with the governor and the mayor and other political figures.
Five finalists will be picked for the awards presentation Monday night at Premier Park Hotel co-hosted by club alumnus Bianca Martin and FeAnna Vang. Martin, who attended the Baraboo Boys & Girls Club, is a former NPR podcast producer and current host for CityCast Madison. Vang, an alumni of the Wausau Club, was the 2020 state champion of this competition. As the winner, she received a four-year scholarship to UW Madison, which she now attends.
The winner of Monday’s competition for Youth of the Year will go on to represent Wisconsin at midwest and national competitions.
