14-year-old Vanessa Sam, receives The Diana Award, an accolade worthy of her social action and humanitarianism. Established in memory of Princess Diana, the award is supported by both her sons, The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex. By Amy Vu
About Vanessa Sam
Since nine years old, Vanessa’s mission has always been to help others. Dealing with the difficulties of the pandemic, she nobly sought to help people her age. During lockdown, Vanessa highlighted teen mental health issues and collaborated with organisations to tackle this. Speaking virtually at schools and working with the ‘Young Urban Arts Foundation’ and the BBC, she combatted issues like youth knife crime and self-maintenance. Her goal is to motivate the next generation to realise their potential, love themselves, and be role models for others.
Tessy Ojo, CEO of The Diana Award, says:
“We congratulate all our new Diana Award recipients from the UK and all over the globe who are changemakers for their generation. 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. For over twenty years The Diana Award has valued and invested in young people encouraging them to continue to make positive change in their communities and lives of others.”
How the nomination process works:
Recipients are nominated by adults who recognise them for their work and contribution. The nomination process involves evidencing the nominee’s: Youth Leadership, Vision, Service Journey, Inspiring Others, Social Impact. In the UK, there are 12 Diana Award judging panels representing each UK region/nation and an additional three panels representative of non-UK countries. There are three judges in each panel; an education/youth work professional, a business/government representative, and a young individual. They decide which nominee from the UK receives The Diana Award. It is judged through the criteria and scoring guide which measures the level of youth public action.
Interview with Vanessa Sam
How does it feel to receive this esteemed award?
V.S. : It feels incredible and there’s just this overwhelming feeling of gratitude. There are so many brilliant Diana Award recipients and it’s an honour to win this award alongside rising change makers. It’s a surreal feeling and not much of it can even be articulated, but I’m just overall so thankful.
Can you talk about your work in promoting teen mental health, especially during the pandemic?
V.S. : Teen mental health has always been a very special topic close to my heart. I wish someone gave me a “guide” to navigating teenage years and how much, unfortunate stress comes with that. I’m a teen and I have mental health as well as every single one of us, and I think consistently bringing up the importance of speaking up and shining light on it, stops the topic from being so abnormal and uncomfortable for most. During the pandemic, I was trying to do my best to help those who are seeking it, especially in such a low and uncertain time. Thank goodness we have technology and can still deliver messages through video content and virtual events. I collaborated with The Young Urban Arts Foundation to help their youth on positive mindset and how to take care of our mental health. I also began my Instagram live interviews where viewers could tune in and feel motivated, educated and uplifted. Being in that online environment, being encouraged to learn and spend our time at home to benefit ourselves. It was also a way for me to escape from all the chaos in the world and have a conversation with different people, and that brought a sense of normality which was comforting.
Looking forward, what are your plans?
V.S. : I’d like to continue expanding on my presenting career as well as my acting. Throughout the pandemic, I think the interviews I was doing so often helped me improve a lot and I didn’t even realise I was basically practicing. Fingers crossed as we move out of this, I’ll be able to interview people in real life after such a long time. For acting, I’m just going to keep striving and working as hard as possible; trusting the process.
We are overjoyed that Vanessa Sam receives The Diana Award and hope that this article encourages you to also make a positive impact.
Find out more about Vanessa at www.inspiringvanessa.com and follow her on Instagram at @inspiringvanessa
You may also enjoy reading: https://darlingmagazine.co.uk/women-to-watch/motivational-speaker-at-13/
