Panaji (Goa): Goa’s State Youth Award Winner Malaika Vaz has been awarded with the prestigious National Youth Award by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The award will be presented at the 22nd National Youth Festival to be held on the12th of January in New Delhi. 

 

Malaika Vaz is a 20-year-old National Geographic Explorer, adventure sports athlete, social entrepreneur, wildlife filmmaker & presenter. Her work has focussed on telling impactful stories about the complex relationship between humans and the natural world. Her recent short documentary along with cinematographer Nitye Sood titled “Waghoba: Provider, Destroyer, Deity” focusing on Tiger conflict in central India was screened at wildlife film festivals in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. She is currently working on a feature-length investigative documentary on oceanic protection. Malaika is supported by pioneering outdoor company Columbia Sportswear in her adventure sport and wildlife film endeavours. 

 

Malaika is the Director of the Indo-Pak Climate Peace conference and the Project Lead for the Manta Trust in India. As of 2017, Malaika is also the Founder and Director of Untamed Planet Films – a production house creating innovative and compelling natural history content. 

 

She is a PADI Divemaster, endurance horse rider, sailor, certified pilot and has been a national level windsurfer. Malaika’s expeditions and adventures have taken her across all 7 continents, and she is a Limca Book record holder for being the youngest person to participate in research expeditions to Antarctica and the Arctic. With her organisation ‘Kriya: Empowerment through Action’, she has worked to empower women victims of violence, disadvantaged youth and children from criminally labelled tribal communities through adventure sport and outdoor education.