Ely teen wins International children's Peace Prize for app

Sofia Tereshchenko and Anastasiia Feskova collected the International Children's Peace prize

Three teenagers, who developed apps to help child refugees, won the International children's Peace Prize.

Ukrainian Sofia Tereshchenko, 18, who now lives in Ely, Cambridgeshire, worked on the app with two of her friends - Anastasiia Feskova, 17, and Anastasiia Demchenko, 17.

Drawing on their own experiences, they created the mobile app to support children fleeing war.

Past prize winners included Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg.

The trio built two apps after they heard stories of children who had to leave their home countries, often without a parent to rely on.

The first, refee, helped children aged four to 11 find all the information they needed when they arrived in a new country.

The second, SVITY, aided teens who struggled to integrate in their new country. The app helped to facilitate conversations between refugee children and those from host communities.

The prize winners said the awards gave them strength to 'fight for out rights and safety in the face of danger'

The award ceremony was held in The Palace of Whitehall, London, on Friday and was opened by Mpho Tutu, daughter of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Organisers said the apps, which are available to download from the App Store, provided an "essential need".

Strength to fight

Anastasiia, Sofia and Anastasiia, said: "The International Children's Peace Prize highlights that the voices of child refugees will be heard across the world.

"Giving us all further strength to fight for our rights and safety in the face of danger."

The International Children's Peace Prize launched in 2005 to highlight the achievements of young people fighting for children's rights across the world.

Previous winner Greta Thunberg was awarded the prize for climate activism and winner Malala Yousafzai, went on to win the Nobel Prize.