Deadline: August 31, 2015
Do you know of a young person making a positive difference to the lives of other people in your community or country? Nominate them now for the Commonwealth Youth Awards. These awards recognise inspiring young people whose development work has had a significant impact on people and communities in their country or region.
There will be four prizes per Commonwealth region with the top entry from each receiving the Regional Commonwealth Award. From among the four Regional Award winners an overall Pan-Commonwealth winner will be decided.
Eligibility
- Nominees must be aged between 15 and 29 years (as of 31 December 2016), and come from a Commonwealth member country.
- The nominee must have been engaged in development work for more than 12 months, either in a professional or voluntary capacity;
- The development work must be ongoing and taking place in a Commonwealth Country;
Nominees development work must reflect the Commonwealth’s Plan for Youth Empowerment to:
- Promote youth participation in decision making
- Promote the economic empowerment of young people
- Take action for equality between young men and women
- Promote peaceful and democratic environments in which human rights flourish
- Provide quality education for all
- Improve access to information and communication technology
- Promote health, development and values through sports and culture
- Engage young people to protect the environment
The development work can be in any of the following areas:
- Agriculture, agri-business
- Arts and culture for development and peace
- Education, peer education
- Enterprise development, youth employment
- Climate change, environment protection
- Health and wellbeing (including work on HIV/AIDS)
- Human rights and democracy
- Information and communication technology
- Journalism, media, public awareness raising
- Peace building
- Science and technology
- Sport for peace and development
- Sustainable development, poverty reduction.
Awards
- The sixteen regional finalists will receive a £1,000 grant, a trophy and a certificate. The four regional winners will receive an additional £2,000 a trophy, and a certificate.
- The Pan-Commonwealth award winner will receive £5,000 in total, a trophy and a certificate.
- The sixteen finalists will be invited to receive their awards at an official ceremony.
- Grants will be awarded to advance the development work of finalists.
Selection Criteria
- Quality of impact.
- Level of innovation/fresh approaches to problem-solving.
- Quality of achievement.
- Quality of the evidence provided.
- Sustainability: building capacity of future generations to meet their own needs.
How to Nominate
To complete the nomination form please visit: http://www.yourcommonwealth.org/cya2016/
You will be required to provide:
- Details about yourself
- Details about the person you are nominating
- The reasons you think the nominee deserves to win
- A description of the development work and how it makes a positive difference to the lives of others.
For more information, visit Commonwealth Youth Awards 2016.