It’s not every day you get to follow a Prince around New Zealand, but for 17-year-old Anna Stevenson this became a reality a few weeks ago when His Royal Highness Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, Global Patron of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, made the first stop on his Asia-Pacific trip.

In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Award, the Duke travelled down-under to meet Award participants, volunteers and supporters across Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award is open to kiwis aged between 14 – 24 and is run throughout schools, community groups and organisations across Aotearoa such as Cadets and Scouts New Zealand. By creating opportunities for rangatahi to discover or develop a skill, get physically active, give back to their communities and take part in an adventure, the Award challenges young people to leave their comfort zones – and that’s when the great stuff happens.

Having previously known about the Award from their Mum who had completed her Silver Award, Anna Stevenson first got involved with the Awards through their Scout leader. They are currently working towards their Gold Award, which involves a year of being involved in a hobby, skill, community service along with completing an adventurous journey and residential project.

Early 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Anna was looking for a new hobby and stumbled upon their Dad’s old camera.

“I started taking out the camera every week and developed a passion for taking photos and creating stories within the photos I took,” Anna shares.

“Part of the Award includes participating in a hobby for a year. For my hobby I chose photography which helped me to reinforce my passion and set goals for my development.”

The opportunity of a lifetime came to Anna through their Award mentor Hayley, who provided the chance to shadow experienced photographer Rohan Krishnan of Kaleido Studios around Aotearoa as he captured the Duke’s visit.

“I felt extremely excited and grateful for the experience that this gave me, the whole event has also led to more opportunities that I am very grateful for. The highlight of the Duke of Edinburgh’s trip for me was all of the amazing people I was able to meet along the way, from the Spirit of Adventure director to other photographers, to the Duke of Edinburgh himself. I am very grateful for everyone that I met during the event.”

“Under Rohan’s guidance, I was able to learn different editing techniques and developed the confidence to take photos in large public settings.”

When asked by Billie whether they thought it’s worthwhile other young Kiwis getting involved, it’s no surprise they were supportive!

“I encourage other young Kiwis who plan on completing their Award to have fun during activities they like, while also going out of their comfort zone to meet new people and find new experiences or hobbies.”

“One of the biggest learnings I had from my Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is creating a future vision, and being able to value my time and achieve goals within deadlines to be able to achieve my Award.”

To learn more about how to get involved with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award, see here and have a chat to a mentor in your life to equip yourself with new skills.