Gold
Gold is the third and final level of the Award, and takes a minimum of 12 months to complete or 18 months if you have not completed Silver.
You can start your Gold Award as soon as you've completed your Silver. If you have not completed Silver then you must be 16 to start Gold.
There are three specific sections—Voluntary Service, Skills and Physical Recreation—that you'll choose your activities from, plus an Adventurous Journey and a Gold Residential Project (a Gold-only section) to complete.
The information below gives you a good idea of what time is involved for each section. If you're already playing a sport, learning a skill (e.g. learning to drive or play a musical instrument), or helping others in your community, once registered, you will be able to use these activities to count towards your required hours:
Starting age
16 years or as soon as you have completed Silver. Please note: A Gold Award cannot be achieved until you're 16.
Length
Minimum of 12 months
Section Major (if without Silver)
Complete an additional 6 months in one Section.
12 months
Individual or team activities such as ball and racket sports, athletics, cycling, animal sports, fitness, dancing and yoga.
12 months
Activity must be passive/non-athletic. Examples are music, computer programming, performance skills, leadership, coaching, arts and crafts, vocational skills and cooking. If you are using coaching for the skills section your logs should reflect how you are improving your skills and not the act of coaching.
12 months
Activity must meet a genuine need. Examples include supporting people in the community, youth work, community education, health education, environmental service, charity work and supporting a local emergency service.
- 5 days and 4 nights
- 8 hours of purposeful activity per day
- Be with people you don't already know
- Be away from home
Examples include training courses, student exchanges, cultural or service projects, conferences and being a youth camp leader.
Preparation and Training
All participants must have undergone suitable training to have the appropriate skills and knowledge to confidently undertake their journeys
Practice Journey
Minimum 1 day and 1 night with 8 hours of purposeful effort per day.
The length and/or number of practice journeys required will depend upon the ability of the group; this is a decision for the Award Leader or Assessor.
Qualifying Journey
Minimum 4 days and 3 nights with 8 hours of purposeful effort per day.
1. Form a group of 4 - 7 young people
2. Decide together on a goal for the journey
3. Plan, prepare and train for the journey
4. Enter the information in you ORB record and send to your Award Leader for approval
5. Undertake Journey
6. Debrief/Presentation/Report
7. Send to Assessor for Approval