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.

The Participation Age is between 14 and 25 years. The basic structure of the Award consists of 4 mandatory sections Voluntary Service, Adventurous Journey, Skills and Physical Recreation. There are 3 levels of the Award – Bronze, Silver & Gold. Participants must complete the four mandatory sections of Voluntary Service, Adventurous Journey, Skill & Physical Recreation. Participants can undertake all three categories of the Award programme or enter directly at any of the three levels in the following age group; Bronze Award (for those over 14), Silver Award (for those over 15) and Gold Award (for those over 16 years).

The minimum period of participation is 6 months for Bronze, 12 months for Silver and 18 months for Gold. For each of these levels a participant is required to undertake activities under each of the four sections. At Gold level, participants undertake a Residential Project in addition.