OCTOBER 2, 2026 INSP SUMMIT One Voice, One Night AMBREEN BONNET To close the INSP Awards 2026 in Glasgow, poet Ambreen Bonnet penned this original poem. I need you to hear me. Not because I have all the answers, but because I have lived the questions. I have known what it feels like to have nowhere to call home, to carry your life while trying to carry yourself. I have known the silence that comes when people look at you but do not truly see you. So when I speak about homelessness, I am not speaking from a distance. I am speaking from memory. From experience. From the places that changed me. My words matter because they were born where statistics cannot reach. I survived being homeless. Now I use my voice so nobody has to disappear inside their story. Tonight, I do not stand here to tell you my story for sympathy. I stand here because homelessness taught me things I could never have learned from a book. It taught me that behind every statistic is a human being. Behind every closed door there is a story. Behind every person we call homeless there is a life that existed long before the word homelessness was ever attached to it. And tonight, I look around this room and I see something different. I see people who refused to look AWARDS from last page bodo for their comic workshops for vendors, led by Ika Sperling. The award went to Apropos. INSP would like to thank each and every entrant for making the time and effort to enter into this year’s Awards, and to congratulate you for showcasing the incredible work of the street paper away. I see nominees whose work, courage and compassion have made a difference. I see winners who remind us that change is possible when people care enough to keep showing up. So tonight is not about me. Tonight is about you. The people who write the stories. The people who sell the papers. The people who create opportunities. The people who listen. The people who advocate. The people who stand beside someone when the rest of the world has walked past. Tonight, we do not celebrate the easy. We celebrate the impossible days, the doors that stayed closed, the nights that felt endless, the moments when hope was almost too heavy to carry. We celebrate the people who kept walking when they had nowhere to go. The voices that refused to disappear. The stories that refused to be forgotten. The hands that reached out when the world had turned away. Tonight, we celebrate the courage to stand beside someone not because their journey is easy, but because it isn't. We celebrate every street paper, every vendor, every writer, every worker, every volunteer, every person who said: You matter. Your story matters. Your voice matters. Because changing lives is rarely glamorous. It is persistence. It is patience. It is showing up again tomorrow. It is believing in someone's future when they have forgotten how. Homelessness taught me that dignity is not something you earn by having a home. It is something you are born with. It taught me that sometimes the greatest gift you can give another human being is simply to see them. Really see them. To ask their name. To hear their story. To believe them. And perhaps most importantly, homelessness taught me the power of a voice. Because when you have lost almost everything, your voice can still remain. And when someone listens, that voice can become powerful. So tonight, I lend mine to this room. Not to remind you of homelessness, but to remind you why the work you do matters. Under these lights, we honor those who do the hard work of bringing light to places the world too often leaves in darkness. These awards are not simply trophies. They are reminders. That compassion is powerful. That dignity is revolutionary. That a voice can become a doorway. That one person can become a turning point. Every nomination represents someone who cared enough to make a difference. movement. You made the decisions for the judges very difficult! Editor's note: Groundcover News nominated Steven's March 7, 2025 article "Travels with Dreamer: The girl in the shiny green dress" for the Best Vendor Article. We nominated Marie's January 24, 2025 article "Warning: homeless people at work" for Best Article/ Journalism. Every award represents courage, commitment and compassion. And every person in this room has the opportunity to change someone's story. So let us celebrate the victories, but remember what they cost. The courage. The resilience. The tears. The countless moments when giving up would have been easier. Because sometimes the most extraordinary achievement is simply refusing to give up on another human being. --A home can give you a roof. But dignity, compassion, opportunity and being truly seen can give you something even more powerful — the feeling that you belong. Tonight, we celebrate the nominees. We celebrate the winners. We celebrate the people behind the work. And we celebrate something even bigger: The belief that no human being should ever be reduced to the worst chapter of their life. Tonight, we celebrate the people who help others find their way back there. Tonight, we celebrate that. Tonight, we celebrate them. Tonight, we celebrate you. Courtesy of INSP.ngo Ambreen Bonnet GROUNDCOVER NEWS 9
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