Sheffield girl, aged 12, receives top humanitarian award

Alana Habergham-Rice aged 12, 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 six, Alana started baking cakes for charity and three years ago, she launched ‘Alana’s Caring Cakes’, baking cakes for people in her community who are experiencing challenges.

Baking reduces Alana’s anxiety. This has become more important following her autism diagnosis as she has been able to use her community events to increase awareness and acceptance.

Starting with a small stall, Alana now leads an annual charity event which has raised over £5,000 for various causes, including directly funding treatment for her school-friend with cerebral-palsy and the Sheffield Hospital Charity.

Alana has recently become an ambassador for a local autism charity and launched a Kindness Fair, which brings together different charities and young people to celebrate positivity and raise money for local causes.

Tessy Ojo, CEO of The Diana Award, said: “We congratulate all our new Diana Award recipients 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.”

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.

diana-award.org.uk