Deadline: October 30, 2014
The Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) is inviting nominations for the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Awards for Excellence in Development Work. 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.
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.
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.
Development work can be in any number of areas including:
- 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 will be decided on the basis of:
- 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.
Eligibility
They are looking for young people whose development work reflects 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
Criteria for nomination:
- 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;
- The nominee must be aged between 15 and 29 years (as of 31 December 2015), and must live and work in a Commonwealth member country.
- Individuals cannot nominate themselves in a personal capacity;
- Nominees should give permission for their names to be put forward
- The winners must agree to take part in publicity generated by the Commonwealth.
Commonwealth Countries
How to Nominate
To complete the nomination form please visit: www.yourcommonwealth.org/cya2015
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 2015.
