Adora Svitak

Since age seven, Adora Svitak has been drumming up excitement about reading and writing, speaking at venues like the Wisconsin State Reading Association Convention, the National Center for Family Literacy Conference in Florida, and the Reading Tree Book Festival in Hong Kong. Diane Sawyer called her "a tiny literary giant" on Good Morning America.

Now fourteen, Svitak has authored three books and taught over 400 schools and classrooms worldwide via video conferencing and in-person visits. In February 2011, she received the NEA Foundation's Award for Outstanding Service to Public Education, an honor previously bestowed on luminaries like Bill Clinton and Jane Goodall.

As a passionate advocate for youth voice, particularly in education, Svitak's audience includes teachers and adults as well as students; she shares her "kid's eye view" on numerous issues as a guest blogger for The Huffington Post and speaker at education conferences worldwide. In February 2010, Svitak presented at TED, becoming the youngest ever person to do so. She is also the curator of the student-led TEDxRedmond conference.

Adora Svitak champions a wide variety of causes, including literacy, student voice, and fighting world hunger (as a Youth Representative for the United Nations' World Food Program). Years of writing, teaching, and giving speeches might seem like enough for anyone, but Svitak has maintained that she doesn't plan on retiring soon. This teenager still has decades to go.