Education

• Nigeria-based Alabi Samuel Aniolaoluwa also won the U21s category award.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 24th October 2021 Canon is pleased to declare the winners of the second edition of the Canon Young Champion of the Year Award, as part of the Global Good Awards, which celebrates the achievements of young people around the world who are driving social and environmental change. During a virtual ceremony, UAE based brother and sister Mishal and Mir Faraz, were declared as the winners of the Under 16s category for volunteering their time to campaign for sustainability in the UAE, while Nigeria based Alabi Samuel Anjolaoluwa won the U21s category for his project Students of Ibadan.

The Global Good Awards recognises those campaigning for sustainable change by recognising and promoting exceptional work by individuals, NGOs and businesses on social and environmental issues. This year's submissions came in from individuals across the world, with finalists from UAE, USA, UK, Nigeria and India.

The judges praised the UAE siblings for their continued campaigning on environmental and social causes in the UAE. Aged just 11 and 14, they have already been part of several initiatives in the country for more than seven years, while also founding their own organisation Winshares, which allows the free sharing of used textbooks and uniforms to support access to education while simultaneously reducing waste.

Mishal and Mir Faraz, the winners of the U16s category said Leveraging the power of visual storytelling as a medium to spark change is largely appealing to young people like us. Through photos that documented our efforts and initiatives, we were able to share some important parts of our lives with a broader audience. We would like to thank Canon and the Global Good Awards for honouring our work and bestowing us with this prestigious award. The award's vision echoed what we've been doing for the past seven years: a commitment to safeguard the environment and community by helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. We learn and gain inspiration from other like-minded individuals, and we hope that these efforts would also inspire and create an impact on other young people across the globe,.

Canon recently invited Mishal and Mir, alongside many other GGA applicants take part in the UNs Global Week to #Act4SDGs, by posting videos and photos about what they are doing to act for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In the meantime, Alabi Samuel Anjolaoluwas inspiring project, Students of Ibadan, shines a light on the struggles faced by under-served students in the city of Ibadan, Nigeria. The judges commended his project for using the power of visual storytelling to not only raise awareness of the challenges the students face but for painting a poignant picture of the emotions that sit behind their stories.

Award winners will receive a Canon EOS 250D DSLR camera to encourage them to continue campaigning for sustainable change, while the other shortlisted finalists will each receive a Canon SELPHY Square QX10 mobile photo printer.

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