Niyati Sharma, a first year undergraduate student at Univ, has been honoured with the prestigious Diana Award for her contributions to social action or humanitarian efforts.

Established in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, the Award is given out by the charity of the same name and has the support of both her sons, HRH The Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex.

Niyati who hails from India, founded the ‘Pratisandhi Foundation’ at 17 to tackle taboos surrounding sex education in her community. Under her leadership, Pratisandhi has grown into a youth-led safe space that trains over 1,000 young volunteers and has directly impacted more than 75,000 people through training, advocacy, and outreach. Despite challenges and opposition, Niyati has worked tirelessly; she has built extensive volunteer networks, distributed thousands of condoms and sanitary products, and created India’s first free digital sex-ed library with over 1,000 resources. In 2023, she also spoke at the FemNet4GTE conference and the UN, advocating for her vision of a youth-led, inclusive, and transformative approach to sex education.

Dr Tessy Ojo CBE, CEO of The Diana Award, says:
“We warmly congratulate our new Diana Award Recipients from across the world who are dedicating their time to making positive change. These young people demonstrate that young people have the power to change the world; a belief also held by Diana Princess of Wales. We know by receiving this honour they will inspire more young people to get involved in their communities.”

HOW DO YOU RECEIVE A DIANA AWARD?

The Diana Award is given to young people nominated by adults who know them in a professional capacity and want to recognise their contributions to society. Each recipient has spent at least 12 months creating positive social change, through activities such as campaigning, educating, fundraising, or delivering services.

In 2024, over 80 volunteers from more than 30 countries worked on judging panels to review nominations. Nominations were assessed against five key criteria: vision, social impact, inspiring others, youth leadership, and their journey in social action. Each panel included young people and others who value the contributions of young people.

This year, the Diana Award received over 1,700 nominations, making it the most competitive year so far.

Published: 9 December 2024

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