The Gold Award ceremonies are the occasions in which our outstanding young people, who have undertaken the Award challenges, are celebrated with pride and joy. To keep pushing through the challenges of attaining Gold takes determination and tenacity. The Gold ceremony is an opportunity to recognise our participants’ successes, the challenges they’ve overcome, the comfort zone they’ve extended, and the memories and learnings they will carry through for the rest of their lives. Through the Award programme young people are enabled to become their own agents of change, benefitting themselves and the communities they are a part of and enabling a future they choose.

The Award acts as a catalyst in the enhancement of psychological attributes including hope, self-efficacy, self-esteem, happiness, and psychological wellbeing in Award participants. Participants in the Award programme are leaving for their futures with a solid foundation and confidence in who they are, ready to embrace the challenges of the wider world and to contribute to it in a meaningful way. Our Gold recipients will continue to flourish and thrive, benefitting from the better educational outcomes, employment prospects, community ties, expansive opportunities and chances for curiosity and adventure, and better mental health that are associated with doing the Award.

The 71 Gold Awardees celebrated at our upcoming Wellington ceremony on December 5th have robustly demonstrated the lasting, life changing outcomes of Award participation.

From coaching sport, to discovering their inner artist, from being inspired for their futures in the Gold Residential Project section, to making positive changes in their community through youth governance roles, these 71 rangatahi have shown integrity, curiosity, resilience, and determination. Gold Awardees have succeeded in not only taking the reins of their own lives but in becoming valuable citizens of the world.

Each of our Award recipients are outstanding, we highlight a few of them in the attachment to this release.

Many of our participants marvel on the way the Award has changed them; “The Award has helped me expand my horizons and do things that I would not consider doing in life. It has expanded my knowledge, relationships, and resilience. It taught me that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.” And how “this Award took me to some of the greatest places I have visited in my life, and I was able to have some of the most unforgettable experiences.”

On December 5th, our Gold Awardees will be recognised for their mahi, and will take the first steps into the future as Award alumni, ready to change the world.

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