The Perth Modern School Year 12 student won the Zonta Club of Perth Northern Suburbs Young Women in Public Affairs award at a dinner at Lake Karrinyup Country Club earlier this month.
Karri beat finalists and Perth College students Meghan Nugent and Katherine Schutze to win $1000 and a chance at district level entry.
About 80 guests, including previous winners, saw the Innaloo teenager accept the Kott Gunning-sponsored award from Anglican Bishop Kay Goldsworthy.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOWEach finalist spoke of the woman who inspired them the most.
Karri paid tribute to her ‘strong, compassionate, intelligent’ mother Marie, Meghan to Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and Katherine to athlete Cathy Freeman.
Karri’s busy life includes liaising between volunteer groups and her school as secretary of the Booster Club and enlisting fellow pupils to support appeals for Red Cross, Radio Lollipop, Epilepsy Australia and other charities.
She does administration work for Friends of Hope, through which Australian families sponsor Balinese young people at university.
Karri heads her school’s Law Society of WA Mock Trials team, has taken part in several UN youth conferences and hopes to study law next year.
Zonta encourages young women, aged 16 to 19, to nominate for the award. Applicants should be considering further study in such areas as medicine, politics, teaching, law or social welfare.
See www.zontaperthns.org.au