In 2017, we were over the moon to be able to launch the Adventure Queen Grant – our little way of supporting members of our community to set out on their first big adventure. We are delighted to be able to offer it again for it’s 7th year!
The Adventure Queen Grant
The Adventure Queen Grant supports three intrepid women to take on a human-powered, boundary-pushing, life-changing adventure through providing funding, kit and mentoring. One of our grant spots is allocated to a woman wanting to use their proposed adventure to connect with nature as part of our Jessi Tucker Memorial Grant.
Jessi was our longest serving Adventure Queens Volunteer – working closely with our founders to make this amazing community what it is today. She was a woman with many talents – a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society with a range of expeditions under her belt: a poet; an emergency medicine doctor; an award-winning writer and to us, a real champion of the Adventure Queens. Jessi was a great lover of nature – she rests under a beautiful oak tree in Surrey.
This year three our winners will receive:
- £750 worth of kit from the epic Eddie Bauer
- £700 cash to spend on their adventure (flights, kit, jelly babies – whatever they need)
- a legendary backpack from Osprey
- a premium subscription and training from the lovely folks at Komoot
- An AQ mentor who will guide, support and cheerlead!
2023/24 winners
We had almost 200 applications for the 2023/24 Adventure Queen Grant (a MASSIVE thank you to those that applied as well as our panel of judges!).
Drum roll please….
We are thrilled to introduce our three wonderful winners:
Sarah du Plessis
Sarah plans a 2 week paddleboarding, swimming and wild camping adventure in the Western Isles of Scotland as her first big solo trip. She is also this year’s Jessi Tucker memorial grant winner, and plans to use the trip to connect with the local wildlife, and explore how she can have a positive impact on the natural world.
Sahir Permall
Sahir will hike solo across the John Muir Trail in California, wild camping along the way over 21 days. She craves an immersive wilderness experience where she can test herself, build strength (physical, moral, spiritual), reconnect with nature, and show her children, and others, that ambitious goals can be achieved if you take the first step.
Kat Halstead
Kat will hike the 130 mile Anglesey Coastal path, camping and wild swimming along the way. Whilst the hike will be solo, she hopes to meet fellow Adventure Queens along the way for daily dips – to challenge herself to swim in the sea, rather than just stand on the edge and hold the bags.
We’ll be sharing more info on Sarah, Sahir and Kat’s plans and adventures on our Facebook group, Instagram and blog over the coming months so stay tuned!
The 2024/25 Adventure Queen Grant
If you missed out on applying for the 2023/2024 Adventure Queen Grant, or applied and didn’t get through, don’t let that deter you! We’ll be launching the 2024/2025 Adventure Queen Grant later this year, for the next group of badass women looking to kick start a big adventure in 2025. So, start brainstorming (think human-powered, boundary-pushing) and keep your eyes peeled for more information!
