Adya Uppal, Kurt Hahn Prize Winner 2024

The 2024 Kurt Hahn Prize has been awarded to Adya Uppal from The British School New Delhi.

Adya has been recognised for her extraordinary work in raising awareness of cancer, securing funding for life saving screening services, as well as manufacturing prostheses and bras for cancer survivors who have undergone mastectomies.

“I was six years old when my paternal grandfather was diagnosed with larynx cancer and I realised he would never be able to speak to me again. Having already lost my maternal grandfather to cancer, I was keen to engage in efforts to prevent the spread of this deadly disease in India so other families would not have to face the loss of their loved ones,” explains Adya, who is in Year 13 at the Round Square school in India. “I am inspired by the strength of cancer patients and hope to continue working towards reducing the gender-based inequities in healthcare systems.”

Her work began with Annapoorne, a CAS project, through which Adya organised and conducted cancer awareness and mitigation sessions for young girls in settlements below the poverty line.

As an intern at the Indian Cancer Society, Adya then developed and advocated a proposal to screen 5,000 women, securing a Rs1.53 (USD 185,000) grant-in-aid from PNB Gilt’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Team, thanks to a presentation to PNB Gilt’s Senior Management Team delivered by Adya herself.

The first Cancer Screening Camp was held in October 2023, followed by a series of similar camps organised with the Indian Cancer Society in Delhi NCR.

Adya also led campaigns to enhance awareness and mitigation of lung, breast, and cervical cancer as well as ear, nose and throat related cancers. As of March 2024, a total of 1,544 women have been screened.

Adya realised that community involvement was vital to the success of her campaigns and is now a core member of a team developing content for a cancer awareness mobile app from the Indian Cancer Society in partnership with Roche. She has developed a series of eight podcasts on the emotional and social impact of cervical cancer.

Her commitment and leadership resulted in her being nominated as the ‘Youth Ambassador’ for the Indian Cancer Society, who also gave her a national award for the app.

After volunteering with patients at the Prashanti Healing & Rehab Centre, a palliative care centre run by the Indian Cancer Society, Adya started ‘CanFree’, her own business manufacturing breast prostheses and brassieres, securing an annual contract for 1,080 bras and prostheses. In CanFree’s first month of business, Adya donated sets to Prashanti Women’s Breast Cancer Rehabilitation Center.

Adya said: “I am deeply humbled and honoured to receive this prize. I am grateful to have contributed to ongoing efforts to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in India and support breast cancer survivors and hope to continue advocating for equitable access to healthcare for women from underserved communities around the world.”

Adya credits the support and guidance of her mentors, teachers, parents and the Indian Cancer Society for her success.

Ms Vanita Uppal OBE (no relation), Director of The British School New Delhi, who has been a mentor to Adya said, “Adya’s outstanding commitment and exceptional perseverance are truly inspirational . A compassionate and driven student, her work towards cancer mitigation shows what a caring and determined individual can achieve.”

The Kurt Hahn Prize is a single annual award presented to a student or small group of students, from a Round Square school anywhere in the world, to recognise an exceptional act of service to others. The Prize is donated by the alumni of Salem School in Germany, one of the founding schools of the Round Square movement, where Kurt Hahn, in whose memory the prize is presented, was Headmaster.

Rachael Westgarth, Round Square, Chief Executive said:

“Kurt Hahn famously understood that the experience of helping, or realistically preparing to help, someone in danger ‘tends to change the balance of power in a youth’s inner life with the result that compassion can become the master motive.’”

“One of the many ways in which Round Square celebrates and promotes compassion in young people is through the Kurt Hahn Prize. Adya is a worthy recipient, this year, with a Spirit of Service that has led to life-saving interventions, and a Spirit of Leadership that is changing the way her community understands and lives with cancer. Congratulations to Ayda on this well-deserved award.”

Watch Adya’s speech for the 56th Round Square International Conference in Colombia in September 2024.