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Chief executive officer of the royal charity, The Diana Award, Tessy Ojo, has been named a recipient of the Commander of the Order of The British Empire (CBE), the UK’s highest of honours, for her services to children and young people.
This announcement is contained in the release published on the official website of The Diana Award recently.
Ojo, a humanitarian, philanthropist and campaigner, gained international reputation for advocating and nurturing change for young people. Her lifelong commitment to empowering and supporting children and young people had led to her recognition in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, 2020.
The award recognised her work heading up the charity in the late Diana, Princess of Wales’ name, which offers mentoring and support for young people and anti-bullying schemes. At the heart of her work is the belief that, with the right support and investment, young people are the best instigators for achieving real, sustainable change in their lives and communities.
“It is most significant that this nomination has been led by young people, recipients of The Diana Award and participants of its anti-bullying and mentoring programmes who have experienced Tessy’s dedication and skills and feel passionately that she should be recognised formally,” the release said.
Tessy Ojo said the feelings that come with the recognition are just out of this world.
“I’m on cloud nine. I feel like I should justify it and be doing more to earn this, but everybody’s telling me, ‘This is a reward for what you’ve already done’,” Ojo said.
“I am humbled by this honour and it feels momentous because it was driven by young people. It’s an immense privilege to work with children and young people. For the past twenty years at The Diana Award I have seen time and time again the life-changing impact we can have on young people by investing in them and empowering them to be a voice to create change,” she said.
She relived the moment she got the news of the nomination.
“I was working from home when I got the email from the Cabinet Office. My husband was in another room working, so I forwarded the email to him because I couldn’t believe it. He came to me and we just stared at each other. I said, ‘For real?’ and he went, ‘Yes, for real’,” she recalled.
Ojo informed that the two children of Princess Diana, Princes William and Harry, the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex, respectively, have written to congratulate her on the award.
“I feel incredibly honoured to receive these messages and will certainly cherish them for a very long time. Both brothers are very involved in our work, so it felt special to get these from them,” she said.
Ojo’s proud father, Chief Nwadike, said, ‘This year has been a very challenging one for our family and to hear that my daughter was recognised by The Queen brought a ray of light into our lives again.”
Ojo is expected to be decorated with the paraphernalia of the award by a yet-to-be-announced senior royal on a yet-to-be-announced date.
CBE is one of the three Orders of the British Empire awards created by King George V during World War I to reward services to the war effort by people helping back in the UK (i.e., not on the front line). The CBE is followed in order of ranking by the Officer of the British Empire (OBE) and Member of the British Empire (MBE). These awards are given to people to recognise the positive impacts they have made in their work.
The decision about who gets an honour – and the type of honour they get – is made by a special committee. The committee’s decisions go to the Prime Minister and then, finally, to the Queen for ratification. The awards are handed out twice a year in the UK.
