Young man from St Lucia to be honoured by the Queen

A young St Lucian is will be presented with a Young Leaders Award by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace later this month.

The awards celebrate inspiring young people from all over the Commonwealth who are dedicated to driving change in their communities and further afield.

This year’s award winner, 22-year-old Ajani Lebourne, was chosen for his work to to ensure students’ interests were represented at a local and national level.

Lebourne will be representing St Lucia as he joins winners from across the Commonwealth in the UK for a programme of meetings, networking opportunities and bespoke training and mentoring, all designed to help them to develop as leaders and work with ever greater impact to transform people’s lives.

Thousands of young people applied, and winner Ajani Lebourne, said: “The Queen’s Young Leaders Award offers a brilliant opportunity for me as a youth leader to assist the National Students Council in nurturing the talents of students.”

The 2017 Queen’s Young Leaders Award winners are working to support others, raise awareness and inspire change on a variety of issues from tackling bullying in schools, to preserving the environment, to promoting gender equality.

Before receiving their Queen’s Young Leaders Award at Buckingham Palace, the winners will visit 10 Downing Street, as well as take part in masterclasses at the BBC World Service and the UK headquarters of Facebook.

They will also meet the Commonwealth Secretary-General, take part in workshops at the University of Cambridge, meet senior executives from some of the UK’s leading organisations and visit projects that are changing the lives of vulnerable people in the UK.

Remarkable work

The programme will finish with the launch of the final ever search for the Queen’s Young Leaders.

The programme is looking for people aged between 18 and 29 who are dedicated to creating positive changes to the lives of people in Saint Lucia to join this important community of change-makers from across the Commonwealth.

Astrid Bonfield CBE, chief executive of The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, said: “The Queen’s Young Leaders of 2017 are doing truly remarkable work within their communities.

“Their actions are having a positive impact not only on those around them but also by setting in motion positive change that will last for generations to come.

“The residential programme is an opportunity for the 2017 Queen’s Young Leaders to come together for the first time, to foster partnerships and share ideas about how they can work together as a group to improve people’s lives all over the Commonwealth.

“We are delighted that these young people are being recognised for their life-changing work by Her Majesty The Queen and we hope that their time in the UK will inspire and enable them to pursue their work for others on an ever greater scale.”

The application process to become a Queen’s Young Leader of 2018 opens at 9pm UK time on Thursday 29 June – this year is the last chance for young people to apply to become a Queen’s Young Leader.

Details about applying, together with information about the 2017 award winners and highly commended runners up, is available at www.queensyoungleaders.com.