Sixty amazing young individuals received the Queen’s Young Leader Award at the Buckingham Palace last week. The award recognizes and celebrates exceptional people aged 18-29 from across the Commonwealth, who are taking the lead in their communities and using their skills to transform lives. The winners of this prestigious award received training, mentoring and networking. Two amazing Sri Lankans were chosen to represent Sri Lanka and were awarded for their contribution to Sri Lanka.

Kavindya Thennakoon founded Without Borders, which aims to tackle the lack of quality education and employment. She was raised by her mother after her police officer father died while fighting the country’s drug trade. Realizing education would be the key to her success, Kavindya studied hard while volunteering for organizations including the Girl Guides.

Thejitha Saubhagya Edirisinghe founded Human Wing International to recognize the importance of culture, arts and languages in creating cohesive communities. Thejitha believes that enabling people to learn and communicate in different languages will break down the barriers between them and help them live more peacefully as one community.