MALAYSIAN youth Mogesh Sababathy has been named a finalist for this year’s Commonwealth Youth Awards. 

According to the Commonwealth website, Mogesh, 23, is among 20 extraordinary young individuals including inventors, activists and entrepreneurs from 18 countries, who have been shortlisted.

Mogesh’s project focuses on the sustainable development goal (SDG) of “Life Below Water”.

“Mogesh is a co-founder of ‘Project Ocean Hope’, a youth-led group that aims to raise the visibility of ocean issues and environmental conservation through campaigns and youth leadership training.

“The group has also run educational community projects to reduce littering and unsustainable fishing practices, and an ocean literacy webinar series on waste management, reaching over 10,000 individuals across 15 countries,” it said. 

The awards recognise outstanding Commonwealth young people whose projects are transforming lives in their communities and helping to achieve the SDG. More than 1,000 entries from 43 Commonwealth countries were received last year.

Meanwhile, Mogesh who hails from Kinrara, Puchong, Selangor, when contacted by Bernama, said being selected as a finalist of this prestigious award is not about him, but it’s for all young Malaysians who are passionate and have been working very hard for the sustainability of the environment.

“I received the good news via email from The Commonwealth yesterday and I was totally speechless when I first opened the email. I was advised to apply for the award around October last year by the Malaysian Youth Council that recognised our project and we have been working very closely through Project Ocean Hope for the last few years. 

“I would like to thank The Commonwealth for recognising our efforts. I would also like to thank all the lecturers and staff of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) for the continuous support and encouragement and for providing us the platform to develop and making Project Ocean Hope a reality,” he said. 

Mogesh who has just finished his bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology with distinction from UMT and is currently working as a research assistant at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia pending his graduation ceremony which has been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year, the awards have expanded to include five regional categories – Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and Canada, and the Pacific – and the top finalist from each region will be announced as the regional winner at the official awards ceremony on March 10, 2021.

The ceremony will be held virtually for the first time due to the pandemic and of these five regional winners, one outstanding young person will become the Commonwealth Young Person of the Year 2021.

All 20 finalists will each receive a trophy, certificate and £1,000 (RM5,540) to expand the impact of their projects. Each regional winner will receive £3,000 and the overall pan-Commonwealth winner will take home a total of £5,000. – Bernama, January 28, 2021.