Educators, popstars, and a terminally ill cancer patient among winners of TikTok Awards

Iain Ward (@thekingofchemo) Kyra-Mae Turner (@kyramaeturner6), Manny Wallace (@big.manny1) - Copyright Nicky J Sims/Getty Images for TikTok UK Creator Awards 2024

By Jonny Walfisz

Published on 04/12/2024 - 13:30 GMT+1

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Educators, popstars, and a terminally ill cancer patient were among the winners of the inaugural TikTok Awards UK & Ireland 2024

The ceremony, hosted by the social media platform, took place in a star-studded ceremony at Exhibition London with awards presented by Michelle Visage, with performances from Leigh-Anne, LeoStayTrill, and Bimini.

Winners were some of the most popular accounts of the past year, with a shortlist curated by TikTok and then voted on by nearly 3 million people.

Creator of the Year went to Kyra-Mae Turner, who has amassed over 1.2 million followers for her travel and lifestyle blog content. “Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me. It’s been a crazy year and I'm so grateful for it – here’s to many more!” she said.

Jay Foreman, who has over 500,000 followers for his informative educational videos, won Video of the Year for his six minute comedy piece on tricky to pronounce place names in Britain.

Breakthrough Artist of the Year was Myles Smith, a 28-year-old singer-songwriter known for his 2024 single ‘Stargazing’.

“Thank you for this award, I appreciate it! This goes to show that TikTok has given us the ability to share our music with the world, and put British music back on a pedestal,” Smith said.

For his unique content demystifying life with terminal brain cancer, Iain Ward won the Voice of Change award. His channel, @thekingofchemo has over 5.4 million followers and raises awareness for those living with cancer.

@thekingofchemo PLEASE READ BELOW⬇️ 4.5 years ago (June 2020) the doctors said my life expectancy would be 5 years, but yesterday I completed 7 marathons in 7 days back to back, across all 7 contenats of the earth, so I’m quietly confident I’m going to surpass the 5 year stats. So if anyone is confused about me saying “I may only have 3 years left” in this video, that was simply because I filmed this in 2022, and once or twice a year a re upload videos that previously did extremely well. Greatest Hits basically. Please comment about your own cancer experience to both help the algorithm and show how much cancer affects everyone on this earth. It doesn’t matter how rich you are, or where you’re from, cancer affects us all and it’s my only life goal to break a charity world record without asking for donations. Please don’t be afraid to ask any sceptical questions, you’re definitely not the only person thinking it, I will not be offended, being completely transparent is vital to my mission. The only way I can break that world record without asking people for donations is to get a monstrously big social media platform and attract corporate sponsors to want to advertise on it, but I get them to donate that advertising money to charity instead of paying me, and it’s working. Over half a million has been raised for charity since I started this campaign 1 month after my brain surgery. That said, there’s a donation link in my bio if you really want to donate yourself, but you don’t have to. I really like the idea that I not only break a world record, but I do it in a completely unique way, that no one ever did before. ON THE SUBJECT OF LINKS IN THE BIO This is the very last day of the TikTok awards that people can vote. I’ve been nominated for “voice of change” I’ve been asking everyone to vote for me not because it’s nice to get a prize, but because I believe strongly that winning an award like that would encourage businesses to sponsor my charity mission. So please click on the top like in my bio. I’d also really appreciate you voting for @Protein Bor Papi in creator if the year, and @Savannah Sachdev for sports person of the year. They’re both helping me break the world record #cancerwarrior #motivational #terminalcancer #braincancer #worldrecord #charity #chemo #cancerkiller #nevergiveup ♬ original sound - Iain Liam Ward

“In a room of serious influence and impact, I'm defying the stereotype of terminal brain cancer. I’m determined to make a difference and break that fundraising record. The amount of power you have in your hands right now is significant; all it takes is the click of a button to change lives,” Ward said.

The full list of winners is as follows: