On what would have been Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales’ 58th birthday, I travelled down to London to attend The Diana Award 2019 Ceremony at the House of Lords. The Ceremony was to celebrate the achievements of young Changemakers all over the world who are ‘selflessly creating and sustaining positive social change’ and this year, there were around 300 Award winners!
I was so humbled to receive the Award in the first place that I genuinely didn’t believe I had been chosen – I even called up their Head Office to check there hadn’t been some sort of clerical error! It definitely took a few days for the news to sink in and I think I was in shock for the whole week afterwards! It was so overwhelming and I never expected to win the Award at all, so it was a lot to come to terms with.
The Diana Award is the only charity set up in memory Diana, Princess of Wales and they celebrate the individuals who are continuing Princess Diana’s legacy internationally. You can find out more about their fantastic work here. There is also information about the other fantastic winners on their Roll Of Honour, and my feature is below!
The day itself was amazing. It began with workshops in the morning at St. Thomas’ Hospital, where we got to meet other Award Winners as well as the Diana Award Team. We completed activities in groups and spoke about the causes we were passionate about.
In the afternoon, it was time for the actual Award Ceremony! We walked past lots of Brexit protesters (which is quite normal in that part of London, I was told!) and then went through security before we got to the Cholmondeley Room in The House of Lords. Whilst waiting in the queue, I also saw Harriet Harman MP, so that was exciting!
The event itself was lovely, and the selection of cakes and sandwiches were delicious! There was also an outdoor balcony area which had a beautiful view of the Thames. We listened to speakers such as the amazing Amnika George and enjoyed a performance by singer Abi Flynn. It was then time for the actual ceremony, where The CEO of The Diana Award, Tessy Ojo, presented winners with their certificates.
It started to get very warm in the space, despite the doors to the balcony being open, and the anxiety I had been trying to ignore all day began to creep up on me. I find being in central London itself very stressful and extremely overwhelming, so it was difficult for me to use public transport and walk through the crowded streets anyway. Then, Imposter Syndrome reared its ugly head. (Check out this really interesting article about the link between Imposter Syndrome and Social Anxiety…) I suddenly felt so inadequate and unworthy of winning the Award, surrounded by so many amazing young people who I was convinced had done so much more than me to fight against the injustices they had faced. I felt like a fraud. Unfortunately, this led to me having a panic attack which was horrible. I was so disappointed that I had crumbled and ruined such an important event for myself. Luckily, the Diana Award staff are all trained in Mental Health First Aid, and they were able to take me outside and support me through it. I still managed to go up and get my certificate, but I felt very unwell which was such a shame, as that was my moment!
After the Ceremony, Tessy came up to me and made sure I was okay, which was so lovely of her! The thing that struck me the most about the whole Diana Award team was their compassion and understanding, and I am so grateful to them for looking after me! The other young people were so supportive too and I realised that it didn’t matter that I had suffered a panic attack. My struggles with my mental health make me who I am, and I am no less worthy of receiving the Award because I had a wobble!
I was proud of myself for getting through the Ceremony (relatively!) unscathed, but my day wasn’t over yet!
I then went to The House of Commons to meet my local MP, Andrew Mitchell. I was lucky enough to watch part of a debate in the actual Chamber, which is actually much smaller than it looks on PMQs! Mr Mitchell spoke to me about my mental health work and it was very interesting to meet him! I learnt that it doesn’t matter about one’s political affiliations – mental health transcends politics and we must all work together to fight for the wellbeing of young people.
I was also in the local paper! 
I met so many incredible people over the course of the day. I was feeling very inspired but I was also exhausted! Thank you so much to The Diana Award for the whole event. It was a privilege to attend the Award Ceremony – but I was very happy to be going back to Birmingham! (You can take the girl out of Brum…!)
Sophia Kaur Badhan 
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