Queen Elizabeth of England will present a Queen’s Young Leaders Award to
young people from 45 different Commonwealth countries, including three
exceptional Nigerians at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London on
Thursday, June 23rd.The 2016 Award winners, including Olanrewaju Adeloye, Imrana Alhaji
Buba, and Olumide Femi Makanjuola, all aged between 18 and 29 have been
recognised by The Queen for taking the lead in transforming the lives of
others and making a lasting difference in their communities.
The Queen’s Young Leaders Award recognises and celebrates exceptional
people aged 18-29 from across the Commonwealth, who are taking the lead
in their communities and using their skills to transform lives.
The winners of this prestigious award arrived London last week for a
one-week residential programme, which includes high-level engagements,
unique package of training, mentoring and networking, all designed to
help them further their life-changing work. Before receiving their Awat
Buckingham Palace, the ward from Her Majesty The Queen tomorrow, the
residential Week got off to a good start with visits to Twitter UK, BBC
Worldwide and 10 Downing Street UK.
As fast-paced social media masterclass the Award winners got the
opportunity to question some of Twitter’s top executives, before
listening to YouTube stars Niki and Sammy talk about how to build a
community through social networks.
At the BBC World Service, the Director-General Tony Hall talked to the
group about leadership. After having the chance to network with
presenters and producers from across the BBC network, the Queen’s Young
Leaders were then given a tour of the studios and even had the chance to
try out the famous green screen room.
The final stop was at one of London’s most famous addresses- 10 Downing
Street, where he winneire, Minister of State for the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office.rs were able to put their questions to the Secretary
of State for International Development Justine Greening and Hugo Swire.
The Young Leaders then headed the Cambridge where they will spend two
days learning more about leadership.
Selected from a competitive process where thousands of young people from
all over the Commonwealth applied to be a Queen’s Young Leader,
Olanrewaju Adeloye said:
“I am so happy to be a recipient of The Queen’s Young Leaders Award. To
be recognised for my work and be presented with an Award by Her Majesty
The Queen at Buckingham Palace is such a huge honour. I can’t wait to
meet all the other winners in London and get involved in all the
exciting activities that are taking place throughout the week.”
As well as awarding inspirational young people, Queen’s Young Leaders
Grants will be made to organisations in selected Commonwealth countries
that can show they are improving the lives of young people.
The vision is to provide opportunities for young people to learn new
skills, enter employment and give them a voice in their communities.
More photos below…