On the Verge win the BBC Cymru Wales Make a Difference Green Award 2025

We are thrilled that this year's winner of the Green Award is Martin Draper, chair of On the Verge, with initiatives 1 Metre Matters & Our Tiny Veg Growers.

The Group exists to maintain, preserve and create wildflower habitats and highlight the vital importance of insects to biodiversity, climate resilience, and food security, inspiring actions to protect and restore their populations across the UK and beyond

Through education, outreach, and advocacy, the Group will:

Raise awareness of the essential roles’ insects play in pollination, food production, soil health, and ecosystem balance.

Promote the principle that “1 Metre Matters”—demonstrating how even the smallest spaces, when managed for nature, can make a significant contribution to insect survival and recovery.

Nurture “Our Tiny Veg Growers” initiative which seeks to cultivate an early understanding of food, nature, and sustainability among children. The group not only supports individual growth and wellbeing but also strengthens community resilience through shared learning and sustainable practices.

Encourage positive action by individuals, schools, communities, businesses, and local authorities to create, connect, and protect insect-friendly habitats.

Support the survival of insect populations, both common and rare, for their intrinsic value, for the wildlife they sustain, and for the environmental benefits they provide.

Champion the link between insects, climate, and food security, showing how protecting insect life is vital to the health of our environment, the resilience of our farming systems, and the wellbeing of future generations.

Launched in Wales for the first time this year, the BBC Make a Difference Awards celebrate and recognise people and groups who do incredible things for each other and their local communities, shining a light on these everyday, unsung heroes.

This year’s winners were presented with their accolades in a special ceremony at Cardiff’s Hoddinott Hall on 20 September 2025, hosted by BBC Radio Wales’ Lucy Owen and BBC Radio Cymru’s Caryl Parry Jones.

From over 700 nominations, a shortlist of 32 finalists was drawn up and eight brilliant winners were selected by a special panel of judges, made up of reggae artist and BBC Radio Wales presenter Aleighcia Scott; singer-songwriter and BBC Radio Wales’ new Morning Show host Bronwen Lewis; BBC Morning Live presenter Gethin Jones; naturalist and BBC presenter Iolo Williams; DJ and BBC presenter Katie Owen; Wales' first female professional boxing world champion Lauren Price; Paralympian Olivia Breen, who was named BBC Cymru Wales’ Sports Personality of the Year in 2022; and BBC Radio 2’s Early Breakfast Show host Owain Wyn Evans.