Diana Award for Lisburn activist

Matthew Taylor (20) 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.

At the age of 17, Matthew Co-founded Pure Mental NI, the first entirely youth-led mental health charity in the UK, which is run by staff and volunteers all under the age of 25.

“I am beyond grateful to be receiving this prestigious honour for my work and activism in the local community over the last number of years,” said Matthew.

“However, this is not - and should not - be seen as an individual accolade; but rather a shared symbol of all that Pure Mental NI has achieved in the last three years with the invaluable guidance gleaned from my time with One Young World, the Washington Ireland Program, Education Authority (Northern Ireland), Queen’s University Belfast and all of NI’s activist communities have together instilled in me the principles that form the foundation of my work, and continue to inform my leadership journey.”

Tessy Ojo CBE, CEO of The Diana Award, added: “We warmly congratulate our new Diana Award recipients from the UK and across the world who are changemakers for their generation. It is especially poignant as we remember Princess Diana twenty-five years on. 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.”