‘Aiona Prescott (21) will be a proud recipient of the Queen’s Young Leaders Award to be presented by HM Queen Elizabeth II on 23 June 2016, at Buckingham Palace, London, in recognising exceptional community leaders from 45 countries.

‘Aiona is being recognized for taking the lead in transforming the lives of others and making a lasting difference in her community through her work with young people tackling issues such as teenage pregnancy, early school leavers and gender-based violence.

"I’m looking forward to meeting all the Queen's Young Leaders from around the world who are doing life changing things in their communities, to learn from them and to give back in whatever way I can," she said.

The awardees will enjoy a busy five days of high-level engagements, designed to help them further their life-changing work, including visiting 10 Downing Street and the UK headquarters of global social networking company Twitter. They will meet with the Commonwealth Secretary General, senior executives at the BBC World Service, and UK business leaders.

They will also join workshops at the University of Cambridge and visit life changing projects for vulnerable people in the United Kingdom.

‘Aiona was selected from thousands of young people from all over the Commonwealth who applied to be a Queen’s Young Leader.

This year’s Award winners aged 18-29 years are working to support others, raise awareness and inspire change on a variety of issues including education, climate change, gender, mental health and improving the lives of people with disabilities.

Applications to become a 2017 Queen’s Young Leader opens on Friday 24 June 2016 with details available at www.queensyoungleaders.com [2].