TIME and TIME for Kids’ 2024 Kid of the Year is 15-year-old scientist Heman Bekele from Fairfax, VA.
He developed an affordable compound-based bar of soap that could be a new and more accessible way to deliver medication to treat skin cancers.
“I’m really passionate about skin-cancer research…. whether it’s my own research or what’s happening in the field. It’s absolutely incredible to think that one day my bar of soap will be able to make a direct impact on somebody else’s life. That’s the reason I started this all in the first place,” Bekele tells TIME in a news release.
To select the 2024 Kid of the Year, TIME solicited nominations for young leaders in a range of fields—including social justice, science, and business. Editors and writers combed through submissions and conducted research to identify stand-out kids in the U.S. ages 8-16. Then, as part of the selection process, a team of TIME for Kids Kid Reporters weighed in on the finalists.
The 2024 Kid of the Year package appears in the August 26 issue of TIME, available on newsstands on Friday, August 16.
