Silchar boy Subhadeep receives the prestigious Diana Award for humanitarian work

July 11: Subhadeep Purkayastha, from Assam (Silchar) in India has been recognised with the highest accolade, a young person can achieve for social action or humanitarian efforts – The Diana Award.

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 Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex. This is the longest running award for young people through a retrospective nomination process only.

Subhadeep started an organisation called ‘Eco Alarmist’ when he was 16 years old to work on environmental conservation. He began by adopting and promoting simple ways to transform how businesses and people can be more ecologically sustainable with a bigger goal to create sustainable cities. They work with food delivery start-ups and street food vendors to curb the use of plastic utensils and cutlery and provide them with cheap, eco-friendly and alternatives made from paper or leaves. Subhadeep initially worked with online videos and later progressed to organising offline campaigns like plantation drives, workshops, sustainable donation drives, as well as food, paper and water wastage campaigns for restaurants.

Tessy Ojo CBE, CEO of The Diana Award, says: “We warmly congratulate our new Diana Award recipient Subhadeep and all other recipients across the world who are changemakers for their generation. It is especially poignant as we remember Princess Diana twenty-five years on. We know by receiving this honour they will inspire more young people to get involved in their communities and begin their own journey as active citizens. We believe this is special. Young people do not work towards the award, rather they demonstrate their suitability through their actions, without any expectation of reward.”

Commenting on his achievement, Subhadeep says, “The last 10-15 days haven’t been good for me and my town, as we faced the worst flood in history. While me and my team Eco Alarmist were engaged in the Flood Relief work and lost track of time, i was awarded The Diana Award on 1st July, 2022. The referee of my nomination Dr. Shruti Nair has been one of my greatest support when my changemaking journey took a leap and my nominator Aditi Gera , who took all the efforts for filling up the exhaustive nomination form, is a great friend with a beautiful soul inside and out! Thank you Ashoka India for making me part of the best community where I feel belonged to and giving me the people whom I can count on always. Also thanks to my best Monani Bhattacharyya for constantly being there with me for shooting my award ceremony footage with all patience!”

WHAT IS THE NOMINATION PROCESS?

Award recipients have been put forward by adults who know the young people in a professional capacity and recognised their efforts as a positive contribution to society. Through a rigorous nomination process, these nominators had to demonstrate the nominee’s impact in five key areas: Vision, Social Impact, Inspiring Others, Youth Leadership, and Service Journey.

There are 20 Diana Award Judging Panels representing each region or nation both in the UK and internationally. Panels consist of three judges who understand the value of young people, including one young person representative. The panels have an important main purpose: to determine which nominations from each region or nation will receive a Diana Award.

Nominations are judged using the Criteria Guide and Scoring Guide which have been created to measure quality of youth social action.