The Award Programme was first introduced in the United Kingdom in 1956 as the Duke of Edinburgh’s

Award. The aim was to motivate young people aged between 14 and 25 years to become involved in a
balanced programme of voluntary self-development activities to take them through the potentially difficult
period between adolescence and adulthood.

The Award’s concept is one of individual challenge, giving young people a balanced, non-competitive
programme of voluntary activities, which encourage personal discovery and growth, self-reliance,
perseverance, responsibility to themselves and service to their community. Those who participate in the
Award are expected to follow its requirements in a non-competitive manner with a determination to
succeed, either individually or as part of a team. The Award, therefore, is challenging, and can be
undertaken at your own pace.

There are 3 levels of the Award – Bronze, Silver and Gold. The basic structure of the Award consists of 4
mandatory sections: Voluntary Service, Adventurous Journey, Skill and Physical Recreation. At the Gold
level, participants undertake a Gold Residential Project as well.
The Voluntary Service section may be difficult to complete remotely, especially if your goal requires you to
visit a particular location or person away from your home. If you are not sure of what activities can be done
to contribute to your Service section, get in touch with your Award Leader or Assessor to support you in
finding new, creative ideas. Some creative ways for Award Participants to continue their Voluntary Service:
making lesson plans for a literacy campaign, Craftwork (making toys, clothes, gift items, paper/cloth bags,
etc.) for a fundraising programme, making posters and video presentations for awareness campaigns, care
for animals (domestic), etc.

Progress towards the Skill section is something that can easily be done from the confines of the home. If
you are learning a musical instrument, a new language, cooking new recipes, designing software or creating
art, chances are you have all the tools you need at home to continue working towards your goal. If you can,
contact your Activity Coach or Assessor to help you find some activities that can be done from home, or
alternatively, you can look online to find tutorials to help continue your progress towards that skill. Once
you have found some suitable activities that can be done at home, be sure to take lots of photos or videos
of the activity so that you can show your Assessor the progress you have made. You can upload these
photos or videos directly to the Online Record Book (ORB) or for offline participants you may email it to
your Award Leader on a weekly basis.

It is very important to maintain a healthy lifestyle and increase your fitness, especially now that we are
restricted to our homes. Participants may look online to find limitless ideas for home workout sessions to
work towards your chosen goal. It’s important to show evidence of your progress to your Assessor, so be
sure these photos or videos are uploaded to the Online Record Book (ORB) or for offline participants you
may email it to your Award Leader on a weekly basis.

and
As the Adventurous Journey and Gold Residential Project sections are group activities, at the moment the
only possibility is to postpone them to a later date when normalcy returns. However, that doesn’t mean
that all progress needs to be halted. Participants may work on the preparation of the Adventurous Journey.
You can keep in contact with your team members and supervisor online using emails or chat groups. Basics
of first aid, map reading, navigation, technical skills training, etc., can be done online or through YouTube
with the permission of the Award Leader.