Our director and Head of Communications is honoured with The Diana Award for going above and beyond in their daily life to create and sustain positive change.
Alex Ollington 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, The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex.
‘I am honoured to be a recipient of The Diana Award and feel that this wonderful organisation’s goals of fostering excellence and inspiring young changemakers, are a reflection of what I have tried to achieve at Democracy Volunteers by encouraging our observers to change the world for the best.’
Alex Ollington, Head of Communications
“We are very proud that Alex has been recognised for his fantastic work for Democracy Volunteers over the last five years. He has dedicated so much of his time making sure that our organisation has consistently delivered our election observation work and it is wonderful that he is being honoured with such a prestigious award. The values of Democracy Volunteers of investing in and encouraging young people to engage in democracy align perfectly with those of The Diana Award making this the perfect recognition of Alex’s work.”
Dr. John Ault, Director of Democracy Volunteers
‘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.’
Tessy Ojo, CEO of The Diana Award
What is the nomination process?
Award recipients have been put forward by adults who know the young people in a professional capacity and recognised their efforts as a positive contribution to society. Through a rigorous nomination process, these nominators had to demonstrate the nominee’s impact in five key areas: Vision, Social Impact, Inspiring Others, Youth Leadership, and Service Journey.
There are 12 Diana Award Judging Panels representing each UK region or nation and a further three panels representing countries outside of the UK. Each panel consist of three judges; one young person, an education or youth work professional, and a business or government representative. The panels have an important main purpose: to determine which nominations from each UK region/nation/country will receive The Diana Award.
Nominations are judged using the Criteria Guide and Scoring Guide which have been created to measure quality of youth social action.
The Diana Award develops and inspires positive change in the lives of young people through three key programmes which include; a mentoring programme for young people at risk, a youth-led anti-bullying ambassadors campaign and a prestigious award which publicly recognises young people – The Diana Award.