Outstanding young hero in Paraguay receives award in memory of Princess Diana

Maureen Montanía, aged 26, from Paraguay 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.

Maureen grew up in a socially unequal environment in Paraguay, where gifted and talented students didn’t have the opportunity to realise their abilities. Maureen fights for the rights of the invisible gifted children and adolescents in Paraguay through the ‘Aikumby Laboratory’ project.

To date, her work has helped more than 20 families, individuals, and institutions by conducting talent development workshops for parents, adolescents, and adults. She trained a team of professionals in the detection, assessment and diagnosis of giftedness, an activity that today has been transforming Paraguayan lives for more than a year through family and educational guidance.

Tessy Ojo CBE, CEO of The Diana Award, says:

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.