The President commended the honour and glory brought to the motherland by winning this award and extended his best wishes for their future endeavors.

The Queen’s Young Leader Award recognizes and celebrates exceptionally talented people aged between 18 and 29 from across the Commonwealth, who are taking the lead in their communities and using their skills to transform lives.

The Queen presented the Queen’s Young Leader Award for 60 selected young leaders in the Commonwealth countries at the Buckingham Palace.

Senel Wanniarachchi received this award for his engagements in organizing training programs to increase women’s representation in politics, using social media to educate and empower the youth and the women and to educate them about the gender equity, civil and political rights.

Wanniarachchi was the Youth Representative of United Nations in Sri Lanka in 2014. He completed the Special Degree in International Relations in Colombo University.

Rakhitha Malevana was awarded by the Queen for his invention of a drug for HIV affected people.

He is an external researcher both at Medical Research Institution, Colombo and the University of Colombo. He invented a vaccine for HIV during his time of studying at Nalanda College.