Photo Credits: Khaleej Times
The Diana Award (2023), the greatest honour a young person can receive for social action or humanitarian endeavours, has been given to Shreyas Krishna Prasad Sunnanguli, a Grade 9 student at Delhi Private School in Sharjah, who is 14 years old.
The Diana Princess of Wales Award was established in her honour and is sponsored by her sons, HRH The Prince of Wales and The Duke of Sussex. A charity of the same name gives it out.
Ignite-Young-Minds, a remarkable and ground-breaking program led by Shreyas Krishna, was established in 2019 to raise the standard of education for disadvantaged children worldwide. Despite being hampered by communication and language hurdles and a lack of teaching resources, Shreyas has subsequently taken up the cause and tutored these pupils. He then expanded his venture with initiatives like BookBank, a lending and borrowing website that offers underprivileged students free textbooks.
Along with similar humanitarian initiatives that have benefited more than 25,000 kids worldwide, Shreyas sold his artworks through “Drops & Dabs”. They contributed the proceeds to improve Kids with Determination in the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE government also honoured Shreyas in 2020 and 2021, respectively, with the renowned Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Distinguished Student and Sharjah Award for Educational Excellence.
According to Shreyas, children are the world’s most important resource and its greatest hope for the future. He reflects on how he started this endeavour because of the same belief. Shreyas views receiving the prestigious Diana Award as an honour and feels that it will help him advance the effort with greater effectiveness, stability, and tenacity, touching the hearts and lives of many people worldwide.
