The Pormpuraaw Youth Summit is gearing up for another week of empowering future community leaders, with plenty of fun activities included. Photo: Christine Howes.
Young Pormpuraaw locals blossoming into future community leaders are counting down the days to the award-winning Youth Summit on 21-25 September.
The Pormpur Ngamplin Pam Mongthak (PNPM) event saw record participation last year since its inception in 2012, and won the Premier’s Reconciliation Award and Community Award at the 2025 Queensland Reconciliation Awards.
Building on years of youth empowerment efforts, this year’s theme, Future Leaders, Strong Community, will be all about celebrating the young people’s skills and potential.
“We acknowledge their skills and capacity, and that really motivates them to do things like going to boarding school and finishing their studies, and know that the community will support them when they come back,” PNPM CEO Ganthi Kuppusamy said.
“We aim to build their confidence, and make them strong and educated people, so they can eventually become good leaders for the community.”
The event has grown significantly since it was established, initially running once every three years until high demand brought the Youth Summit together annually in recent times.
Participants are set to engage in everything from sports, cultural activities, workshops and the ever-popular Colour Run — fun that keeps kids coming back each year on their journey to becoming community leaders.
Harbrow Mentoring, Aspire to Achieve and Apunipima Cape York Health Council will return for the 2026 celebration, and will be joined by YETI Educational Program.
Ms Kuppusamy said the enthusiasm from community members and stakeholders helped solidify the Youth Summit as the place to be in September for young people.
“Everybody’s involved; it’s not only the youth, but their family, community members, Elders and external stakeholders, so it’s a joyful and fun activity,” she said.
“We’re happy to bring people together for the youth, because when people come together, it’s empowering.”
