--- title: TIME and TIME for Kids Name the 2025 Kid of the Year description: TIME and TIME for Kids Name the 2025 Kid of the Year: 17-Year-Old Digital Defender Tejasvi Manoj canonical: https://time.com/7315436/time-and-time-for-kids-name-the-2025-kid-of-the-year-17-year-old-digital-defender-tejasvi-manoj/ author: TIME PR article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-09-09T12:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T00:13:52.987Z article:section: Press Room og:title: TIME and TIME for Kids Name the 2025 Kid of the Year og:description: TIME and TIME for Kids Name the 2025 Kid of the Year: 17-Year-Old Digital Defender Tejasvi Manoj og:url: https://time.com/7315436/time-and-time-for-kids-name-the-2025-kid-of-the-year-17-year-old-digital-defender-tejasvi-manoj/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt444775099c0b7af3/6998c9a193610c3840c2ff62/TIME-KOTY-2025-PR-horiz.webp?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME-KOTY-2025-PR-horiz og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: TIME and TIME for Kids Name the 2025 Kid of the Year twitter:description: TIME and TIME for Kids Name the 2025 Kid of the Year: 17-Year-Old Digital Defender Tejasvi Manoj twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt444775099c0b7af3/6998c9a193610c3840c2ff62/TIME-KOTY-2025-PR-horiz.webp?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # TIME and TIME for Kids Name the 2025 Kid of the Year: 17-Year-Old Digital Defender Tejasvi Manoj by [TIME PR](https://time.com/author/time-pr/) ## TIME PR Sep 9, 2025 12:00 PM UTC  Photograph by Zerb Mellish for TIME by [TIME PR](https://time.com/author/time-pr/) ## TIME PR Sep 9, 2025 12:00 PM UTC Today, TIME and TIME for Kids reveal the **2025 Kid of the Year**, recognizing one exceptional young person making the world a brighter place. This year’s recipient is **17-year-old digital defender Tejasvi Manoj from Frisco, Texas**. She is recognized for her service work teaching digital literacy to protect seniors from cybercrime. **Manoj tells TIME:** “I started volunteering in sixth grade…I think it’s really important; if you’re lucky yourself, you want to make sure other people feel loved and lucky too. It just makes me feel really happy, knowing that I can make a difference.” \--Read the cover story and watch the interview with 2025 Kid of the Year Tejasvi Manoj: [here](https://time.com/7315024/kid-of-the-year-2025/) \--See the TIME cover, featuring a photograph by Zerb Mellish for TIME: [here](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/TIM250929%5FCover-KOTY%5FFINAL.jpg) **Of the 2025 choice, TIME’s Jeffrey Kluger writes**: “The unnamed cyber criminals trying to scam seniors out of their money got more than they bargained for when they targeted Tejasvi Manoj’s grandfather back in February, 2024…Tejasvi, then a 16-year-old junior…began researching how common such scams—especially ones targeting older Americans—are. _Very_ common, it turns out…Within the year she had built and launched Shield Seniors, a website and, soon, mobile app, designed to educate the 60-plus demographic about what online scams look like, analyze suspicious emails and messages users upload, and, if the communications prove fraudulent, provide links to report them.” "At TIME, we regularly profile world leaders and next-generation changemakers. Kid of the Year elevates the very youngest, recognizing their accomplishments as they chart a course toward a brighter future," said **TIME for Kids Editor-in-Chief Andrea Delbanco**. "We're giving kids a platform, and watching them use it to inspire other young people to follow in their footsteps." To select the 2025 Kid of the Year, TIME editors and writers conducted research to identify stand-out kids in the U.S. ages 8-17\. For the first-time, TIME also evaluated submissions to the TIME for Kids Service Stars program, which honors young leaders who are making the world a brighter place. Service Stars, developed in partnership with The Allstate Foundation, supports all young people to serve and improve communities and shines a light on kids who are positively impacting others. The 2025 TIME Kid of the Year is made possible by exclusive partner [**The Allstate Foundation**](https://www.allstatecorporation.com/the-allstate-foundation.aspx), a nonprofit that is committed to empowering youth ages 5 to 25 to serve and improve communities. The 2025 Kid of the Year is available on [time.com](http://time.com) now and will appear in the September 29 issue of TIME, available on newsstands on Friday, September 19\. It will also be featured in the TIME for Kids Service Stars special issue, in classrooms and online at [timeforkids.com](http://timeforkids.com) starting September 25. ### ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7315436/time-and-time-for-kids-name-the-2025-kid-of-the-year-17-year-old-digital-defender-tejasvi-manoj/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7315436/time-and-time-for-kids-name-the-2025-kid-of-the-year-17-year-old-digital-defender-tejasvi-manoj/"},"headline":"TIME and TIME for Kids Name the 2025 Kid of the Year: 17-Year-Old Digital Defender Tejasvi Manoj","datePublished":"2025-09-09T12:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T00:13:52.987Z","description":"TIME and TIME for Kids Name the 2025 Kid of the Year: 17-Year-Old Digital Defender Tejasvi Manoj","url":"https://time.com/7315436/time-and-time-for-kids-name-the-2025-kid-of-the-year-17-year-old-digital-defender-tejasvi-manoj/","keywords":["Press Room"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt444775099c0b7af3/6998c9a193610c3840c2ff62/TIME-KOTY-2025-PR-horiz.webp?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME PR","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-pr/"}],"articleSection":"Press Room","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt444775099c0b7af3/6998c9a193610c3840c2ff62/TIME-KOTY-2025-PR-horiz.webp?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME-KOTY-2025-PR-horiz","caption":"","creditText":"Photograph by Zerb Mellish for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/press-room/","name":"Press Room"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/press-room/","name":"Press Room"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7315436/time-and-time-for-kids-name-the-2025-kid-of-the-year-17-year-old-digital-defender-tejasvi-manoj/","name":"TIME and TIME for Kids Name the 2025 Kid of the Year: 17-Year-Old Digital Defender Tejasvi Manoj"}}]}] ```