Leadership Mentor, Samuel Isiwu Receives 2024 Diana Award

Mary Nnah

Young leader from  Nigeria is honoured with the Diana Award for going above and beyond in their daily life to create and sustain positive change.

Samuel Isiwu Arinze, from  Nigeria 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 The Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex.

Samuel’s work as the founder of STYLCON International has been amazing. Since 2017 he has been committed to raising the next generation of leaders and solution providers and also educating vulnerable children in rural communities.

Alarmed by reports highlighting the struggles of internally displaced (IDP) children, Samuel launched a rural leadership bootcamp in the Durumi IDP camp in Abuja. The project also called #Slum2Champion initiative taught 50 children essential skills like teamwork and problem-solving while introducing economic concepts. With 7,347 volunteer hours and $600 raised, the project significantly improved health and education outcomes for displaced children. He also volunteered and collaborated with ‘CleverMinds Education Foundation’ to launch the “Count Every Child” initiative to address a critical lack of birth certificates and immunisations, partnering with the ‘National Population Commission’ and local organisations. Samuel also uplifts young people through mentorship and education initiatives, building digital, civic and skills for thousands of young Africans.

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.”

Diana Award Recipients have been nominated by adults who know the young people in a professional capacity and want to recognise their efforts to make a positive contribution to society. All Diana Award Recipients have dedicated a minimum of 12 months to leading positive social change through a variety of activities from campaigning and educating, to fundraising to delivering services.

In 2024, there was over 80 volunteers representing over 30 countries, who came together in panels, read through and marked each nomination against five key criteria: vision, social impact, inspiring others, youth leadership, and social action journey. Each judging panel consisted of at least 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 will receive the Diana Award.

This year The Diana Award received over 1700 nomination submissions, making this the most competitive year yet.