Adda Þóreyjardóttir Smáradóttir, an Icelandic student at Verzlunarskóli Íslands, has received the Global Youth of the Year Award in Taiwan.
The Global Youth of the Year Award was presented to five young people on the 20th of October in connection with the 10th annual International Youth Leadership Conference. The five recipients were picked from over one hundred candidates from all over the world and, in addition to Adda, include Liao Chung-Iun, a leading figure in the campaign against high-school curriculum changes in Taiwan, Kahlidi Mngulu, a Tanzanian-born with albinism promoting children’s rights, Mazoun Almellehan a Syrian refugee who has been fighting for the education of girls in refugee camps, and Memory Banda from Malawi, who has been pushing for child marriage in her country to be brought to an end.
International attention
Adda was catapulted into the limelight in March when she tweeted a photo of her nipples after a male friend of hers had posted a shirtless photo of himself on social media as a response to news about an upcoming Free the Nipple event at Verzlunarskóli Íslands.
When a young man made fun of Adda on social media, young, Icelandic women showed support by flooding social media with photos of their bare breasts and kicking off a powerful Free the Nipple campaign to shed light on the double standards regarding the censorship of female breasts and society’s tendency to sexualise the female body. The initiative gathered much public and media attention both in Iceland and globally.
According to Adda, one of the International Youth Leadership Conference’s organisers contacted her in August, inviting her to take part in the conference in October. Initially, Adda was doubtful, thinking the invite was fake.
“They contacted me through Facebook, inviting me to partake in the conference and informing me about the award. Of course, I thought someone was playing a joke on me – well, until I did a little research,” she told local news site Vísir.
Adda Þóreyjardóttir Smáradóttir, an Icelandic student at Verzlunarskóli Íslands, has received the Global Youth of the Year Award in Taiwan.
The Global Youth of the Year Award was presented to five young people on the 20th of October in connection with the 10th annual International Youth Leadership Conference. The five recipients were picked from over one hundred candidates from all over the world and, in addition to Adda, include Liao Chung-Iun, a leading figure in the campaign against high-school curriculum changes in Taiwan, Kahlidi Mngulu, a Tanzanian-born with albinism promoting children’s rights, Mazoun Almellehan a Syrian refugee who has been fighting for the education of girls in refugee camps, and Memory Banda from Malawi, who has been pushing for child marriage in her country to be brought to an end.
International attention
Adda was catapulted into the limelight in March when she tweeted a photo of her nipples after a male friend of hers had posted a shirtless photo of himself on social media as a response to news about an upcoming Free the Nipple event at Verzlunarskóli Íslands.
When a young man made fun of Adda on social media, young, Icelandic women showed support by flooding social media with photos of their bare breasts and kicking off a powerful Free the Nipple campaign to shed light on the double standards regarding the censorship of female breasts and society’s tendency to sexualise the female body. The initiative gathered much public and media attention both in Iceland and globally.
According to Adda, one of the International Youth Leadership Conference’s organisers contacted her in August, inviting her to take part in the conference in October. Initially, Adda was doubtful, thinking the invite was fake.
“They contacted me through Facebook, inviting me to partake in the conference and informing me about the award. Of course, I thought someone was playing a joke on me – well, until I did a little research,” she told local news site Vísir.
