Freya Thakral Honoured With The British Citizen Youth Award At The Palace Of Westminster

The British Citizen Youth Award recognises young, inspirational members who are making a difference to the world around them. In a daunting and unprecedented year, these selfless young people continued to show kindness and a commitment to their community. This year, 23 extraordinary young people were honoured with The British Citizen Youth Award for the 2021 Roll of Honour.

Freya Thakral, age 15, and a student at Brighton College Bangkok, was presented with the Medal of Honour at the Palace of Westminster from Nicky Cox MBE, Patron of The BCyA and Editor, First News, in the presence of members of the House of Lords, Dr Alex George, UK’s Youth Mental Health Ambassador, and a host of celebrities in London, UK.

Freya was recognised for the work she does to support her two passions – focusing on the wellbeing and mental health of young women and improving the lives of the marginalised communities. She is passionate about empowering girls to express themselves and make a positive difference in the communities in which they live, near and far.

For the last three years, Freya has secured funding for a project to tackle recycling and the issues affecting a rubbish picking community. She created a recycling app and recycling business, whereby all profits go into supporting the community.

During the lockdown, Freya created an app called ‘Curiousify’ when she experienced her peers dealing with emotional difficulties. Going through a multitude of changes in a short span of time with no precedent, young people are scared and confused and open to negative and unhealthy incorrect information. The app offers a curated collection of bite-sized articles and videos that are positive and helpful. Best of all, these are created by girls, for girls. Using the Curiousify website or the app itself, they can submit their experiences and articles for publication.

Each Medal of Honour bears the words ‘For the Good of the Country’ and is presented to only a small number of exceptional young individuals annually. The British Citizen Youth Award is widely viewed as the nation’s way of recognising extraordinary, everyday young people for exceptional endeavour and are truly representative of today’s multicultural Britain.

Dame Mary Perkins, Patron of the BCA, said: “The British Citizen Youth Award recipients are very special individuals. These young people all go above and beyond for others with selfless acts of kindness and community spirit with no thought or expectation of praise or reward. These awards are a great opportunity to shine a light on what they do and give them the recognition they so thoroughly deserve. They are the nation’s true unsung heroes and the rising stars of the future.”