Leadership award for nursing student, Pearl Sakoane

Pearl Sakoane, a Postgraduate Diploma Nursing student at the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery, King’s College London, has been selected from a national field of nursing and midwifery applicants, as the winner of the prestigious Edith Cavell Leadership Award 2015.

The £2,000 scholarship fund awarded as the prize is designed to support the future of nursing and midwifery by celebrating excellence and leadership.

As we head into 2015, the centenary of Edith Cavell’s death, this award commemorates Edith Cavell’s bravery, enthusiasm for education and promoting nursing care, and her dedication to the profession.

Upon winning the award, Pearl said: “I am still in disbelief that I have won and it surprises me every time someone mentions it. I definitely wasn’t expecting it. I applied for it based on principle. I wanted to not just be a representative for other students and future nurses, but to actually act as one as well.”

Outlining her future aspirations as a student representative and as a nurse, she continued: “ I want to leave behind something positive to be remembered, and as a nurse, I simply want to be good. I want to be reliable, insightful, innovative, competent and proficient as a practitioner. I couldn’t ask for more than that.”

Paying tribute to her mother, who was a nurse for over 30 years and trained during the apartheid regime in South Africa, Pearl said: “I am completely inspired by my mother who sadly died of cancer two years ago. She held the strong belief that ‘a good leader should always sharpen his tools’ and that it’s as important to support and empower others, as it is to continue to build your own knowledge and skills. I suppose that is the well from which I draw my own inspiration.”

Pearl received the award in the presence of Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal at a prestigious event held at Fishmongers Hall in London on Wednesday 1 April.