Quilen Blackwell Named 2025 CNN Hero of the Year
NEW YORK, NY – (December 6, 2025) – Tonight during the 19th Annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, Quilen Blackwell was named the 2025 CNN Hero of the Year. Hosted by CNN Anchors Anderson Cooper and Laura Coates, the global broadcast honored everyday people who are making extraordinary contributions to help improve the lives of others.
Blackwell’s organization Southside Blooms turns vacant lots on Chicago’s South Side into eco-friendly flower farms, employing local young people to grow, harvest, arrange, and sell flowers at his group’s nonprofit flower shop.
Each Top 5 CNN Hero will be awarded $10,000 and Blackwell, as the CNN Hero of the Year, will receive $100,000 to continue his life-changing work. Accepting the award, Blackwell said, “There’s a lot of amazing things going on in the inner cities that is going to surprise a lot of people. I’m really thankful for all the young men and women who’ve been a part of our work because they’re the stars.”
In its fourth year of collaboration with CNN Heroes, the Elevate Prize Foundation, a global nonprofit on a mission to Make Good Famous, committed to bringing visibility to the work of changemakers and inspiring the world, is awarding $50,000 to Blackwell as the CNN Hero of the Year. All five honorees will also receive from the Elevate Prize Foundation organizational capacity-building and tailored resources to maximize their impact.
The late Robert Redford was honored with the third annual CNN Heroes Legacy Award, recognizing his lifetime commitment to environmental stewardship, his decades of advocacy for protected lands, and his enduring influence on generations of conservationists. Accepting the award on the Redford family’s behalf, former Vice President Al Gore said, “Having spent so much of his life in front of the camera, as an incredible actor and behind the camera as a visionary director, Bob deeply understood the mobilizing power of a focused lens and a captivating story.” He continued, “In honor of Bob and his amazing work, may we each find a way to lend our voices to the global call for protecting the fate of humanity by urgently addressing the climate and environmental crises that our leaders have sidelined for far too long.”
Notable guests joined CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute including three-time Academy Award® winner Meryl Streep, seven-time Grammy®, Academy®, and Emmy Award® winner Jon Batiste, Primetime Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominee Kathryn Hahn, NAACP Image Award® winner Regina Hall, Primetime Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominee Parker Posey, Primetime Emmy® nominee and star of NBC’s Brilliant Minds Zachary Quinto, Daytime Emmy® winner Kelly Ripa and Primetime Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominee Adam Scott.
CNN has partnered with Pledge, the award-winning fundraising platform trusted by millions, to power giving for this year’s Heroes. Through Pledge’s seamless technology, donors can contribute online, by QR code, or via text- either to a specific Hero’s nonprofit or, for the first time, easily support all honorees with a single donation at pledge.to/cnn-heroes. The Elevate Prize Foundation is matching donations to all of the 2025 Top 5 CNN Heroes up to $50,000 per hero through Sunday, January 4.
CNN Heroes is honored to have the commitment of brand partners including Humana, now in its fifteenth year of support, and SERVPRO.
CNN.com/Heroes | #CNNHeroes
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