INTRODUCTION

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The objective is to challenge young people between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five years to "reach for their best". The Awards are designed in ascending standards of achievement: 'Bronze', 'Silver', and 'Gold' levels. Each standard provides for training, achievement, and recognition in the basics of good citizenship. A wide variety of interests is embraced, including physical activities, educational training, self-discipline, and service to the community - all designed to advance the physical, mental, and spiritual welfare of the young people.

OPPORTUNITY AND CHALLENGE

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, designed with great care by a small team in 1956, is a means to encourage and motivate all youth over the age of 14 years to voluntarily become involved in a variety of personal development activities, including Community Service, Expeditions, Skills and Physical Recreation. Hence, each young person who undertakes this Program has to select one activity under each of these four headings, thus gaining exposure to such new experiences as social responsibility and adventure training.

The aims of the Award Program are quite specific and are simply stated: to encourage and stimulate:

1. self-reliance and self-discipline,
2. perseverance and determination,
3. initiative and creativity,
4. unity involvement and social responsibility,
5. value orientation and value-oriented decision making,
6. the spirit of adventure,
7. fitness of body and mind,
8. vocational, cultural and family life skills,
9. international understanding and awareness.

THE PROGRAM

The Award Program is not a youth organization, but simply a Program intended to be flexible enough to meet the needs and interests of all young people, no matter what their backgrounds. As the Program aims to broaden interest and deepen experience, it embraces a very wide range of adventurous, cultural, and practical activities from which participants may choose those best suited to their own enthusiasms and aptitudes. They then follow these activities in their own time with guidance from someone knowledgeable in each subject and, when the stated requirements are met, they qualify for an Award. In addition to the satisfaction of completing the task which they have undertaken, they receive a pin and certificate on behalf of The Duke of Edinburgh to mark their achievement.

The Program needs experienced people and organizations to apply it, and is run in most cases through youth groups or schools. Individuals not associated with a youth group may also participate using their Divisional Director as advisor and assessor.

THE AWARDS

There are three separate Awards - Bronze, Silver, and Gold - and participants may enter at whatever level is most suited to them, keeping the age requirements in mind. The starting point is marked by the payment of a small registration fee upon which each participant is given a Record Book which is used to record their progress through the Program.

THE SECTIONS

Award activities are arranged in the following separate sections. In each there is a wide choice:

1. Service - to prepare for and give service to others;
2. Adventurous Journey( Expedition/Exploration/Adventurous Projects)- to undertake a challenging journey of discovery;
3. Skills - to develop personal interests and social and practical skills;
4. Physical Recreation - to take part in a planned Program of physical activities.

The sections are intended to complement each other and provide a balanced Program reflecting different aspects of leisure activity.

Inevitably, the content of the different sections overlap but, to ensure that no-one follows too narrow a range of activities, different types of activity are selected in the different sections. The overall Program for any participant should, whenever possible, include both mental and physical activities.

INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT

In all sections of the Program the participants should be guided by persons who are knowledgeable about the activity being followed. When they have completed each section they must be assessed. The assessor's signature in the Record Book shows the section has been completed. The basis for assessment and the responsibility for finding and approving instructors and assessors is outlined in the General Conditions page.

CONCEPT OF VOLUNTARY TIME

The Award Program should be voluntarily undertaken during those parts of the day, month or year when the choice of activity or occupation is at the option of the participant.

It is recognized that the wide range of activities from which participants may choose in the Skills Section inevitably includes a number of interests and occupations associated with subjects forming part of school curricula, vocational training or study courses of some kind. The same may be said of some aspects of the training required of participants in the Service, Expeditions and Physical Recreation Sections.

It is not the intention that such interests or occupations should be excluded, but that, in addition to whatever instruction or training may be acquired during school or work time, participants must show clear evidence of additional voluntary effort in their own time.

HISTORY OF THE AWARD IN BRITISH COLUMBIA & THE YUKON

In 1956 His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, launched, in the United Kingdom, the prestigious Award that we now know as The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Young Canadians Challenge. Within 10 years 16 countries were running their own Award programs, a figure which by 2005 had risen to 117. In 1963 the Award came to Canada and to British Columbia and the Yukon in 1969. The Award is operated throughout the world under a variety of names including "The International Award for Young People".

The Award is an International program open to all young people between he ages of 14 and 24. There are 3 levels of achievement ~ Bronze, Silver and Gold. At each level there are four areas of activity: Community Service, Expeditions, Skills and Fitness. The "Award" itself consists of a lapel pin and an inscribed certificate of Achievement. More than 23,000 young Canadians are now participating in the Award program either through Schools, or as members of organized youth groups, such as Guiding, Scouting, Cadets, Church Groups, and also on an individual basis. In the British Columbia and Yukon Division 7,200 young people are registered with the Award program.

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