Leaders of Tomorrow 2023 — Winner

Arun Poudel, aged 21, was a second-year business student and youth group leader at Olive Branch Church. His essay, "Lead from the Ground Up," argued that the most effective community leaders of the next decade will not be those who seek positions of authority, but those who choose to remain in their communities when leaving would be easier. Drawing on his own experience mentoring younger students and organising neighbourhood clean-up drives, Arun wrote with the authority of someone who had already begun the work he was describing. "The leader tomorrow needs is already here," he wrote. "They are just waiting to be told that staying matters."