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Changemakers: How Stormzy is giving black students scholarships at Cambridge

Grime musician Stormzy is working hard to give students from all backgrounds opportunities in education and publishing

This week’s Changemakers Top 100 special edition features the world’s leading thinkers, shakers and agitators. Throughout the week we’ll be highlighting just a few online.

For grime superstar Stormzy, it’s as much about the mission as the music. Last year he rocked A-Level results day by launching a scholarship for black students to attend Cambridge University – £18,000 in funding will cover both tuition fees and living costs for up to four years. The first two students started in October, with another two to go this year.

But it didn’t stop there. The 25-year-old also launched publishing imprint #MerkyBooks, kicking off with his own story, Rise Up: The #Merky Story So Far. This year it will publish works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry from young writers who might otherwise be locked out of the publishing world.

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