The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme was established by The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, in partnership with Comic Relief, The Royal Commonwealth Society and The University of Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education, in honour of Her Majesty The Queen’s lifetime of service to the Commonwealth.
Launched in July 2014, the programme set out to discover, celebrate and support exceptional young people from every Commonwealth nation who are leading the way in transforming their own lives and the lives of those around them.
Each year for four years, 60 Awards were given to exceptional young people aged between 18 and 29 each year, with the last cohort awarded in 2018, to honour those who are addressing the urgent challenges facing their communities – including mental health, education, climate change, employment opportunities and gender equality.
As part of the Award, winners took part in a year-long online leadership course from The University of Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education and received one-to-one mentoring support. This was followed by a Residential Programme in London, which included a unique package of workshops with prominent businesses and social enterprises, and meetings with high-profile leaders. To conclude the programme, the Queen’s Young Leaders were invited to Buckingham Palace to collect their Award from Her Majesty The Queen.
The now complete network of Queen’ s Young Leaders forms a unique, dedicated and powerful group of 240 award winners and 282 highly commended runners-up from across 53 Commonwealth countries who will connect, collaborate and change lives together for years to come.
The Programme closed in December 2019 and is therefore no longer looking for new winners or recipients of funding.