Nigerian Becomes First African To Receive Horizon Award

A Nigerian, Adebola Aderibigbe, 20, has been honoured in the U.S. as she became the first African and the youngest ever to receive the prestigious Horizon Award at the 15th ‘Realising the Dream Legacy’ Awards Banquet.

She was recognised alongside former Birmingham Mayor, Richard Arrington, Jr. and attorney and former U.S. Senator Doug Jones who both received the Mountaintop Award and the Call to Conscience Award respectively.

The annual event recognises a person in keeping with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s ideals of promoting social justice, peace, and equality who provides vision, courage, and leadership to improve the quality of life for all.

Adebola, a native of Abeokuta, Ogun State, is driven by the dream of using her journalistic prowess to amplify unheard voices and create waves of inspiration. Her advocacy journey for the rights of the girl child started at 15 when she won the maiden edition of the now annual International Day of the Girl Child Essay Contest organised by HACEY Health Initiative, beating over 1000 other contestants to the top prize. The essay that won her the top prize was titled ‘What Gender Equality Means To Me.’

A sophomore student at Stillman College, Alabama, in spite of the demands of her academic pursuit, Adebola is the manager of The House Tuscaloosa, where she volunteers to promote and develop literacy in The West End Community in three areas: Educational, Musical, & Spiritual in alignment with the mission of the library.

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In 2019, Adebola served as a panellist at With And For Girls Awards held in London, representing sub-Saharan Africa. While in London, she was one of the three outstanding girls that featured on the podcast interview segment of IG Advisors, a UK-based organisation that is into strategy consultancy specialising in social and environmental change.

Adebola runs an Initiative called ‘Girls Matter Too’ and she is a volunteer member of The Legend Lifeskills Foundation, a non-governmental organisation set up with the aim of equipping young people, especially, girls with skills for success in life and career.

Some of the previous Horizon Award honorees include; inaugural recipient, Kendra Key, Tyler Merriweather, Elliot Spillers, Marissa Navarro, Quinvarlio S. Kelly, Jr., Emma Mansberg, Carina Villarreal, and Christopher Gill.