Commonwealth Youth Awards Nominations 2016

Do you know a young person making a positive difference in your community or country?

Nominations are open for the 2016 Commonwealth Youth Awards for Excellence in Development Work. These awards recognise inspiring young people whose development work has had a significant impact on people and communities in their country or region.

We are looking for young people aged 15 to 29 years, whose development work demonstrates the Commonwealth’s Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment, to:

·         Promote youth participation in decision making

·         Promote economic empowerment of young people

·         Take action for equality between young women and young men

·         Promote peaceful and democratic environment in which human rights flourish

·         Provide quality education for all

·         Improve access to information and communication technology

·         Promote health, development and values through sport and culture

·         Engage young people to protect the environment.

Criteria for nomination

Individuals are able to nominate themselves or can be nominated by someone who is able to vouch for the legitimacy of the nominee’s development work. The nominee must meet the following criteria:

·         The nominee must have been engaged in their development work for more than 12 months either in a professional or voluntary capacity

·         The nominee must be from a Commonwealth member country

·         The development work must be ongoing and in a Commonwealth member country

·         The nominee should not be older than 29 on 31 December 2016

·         Nominees should give permission for their names to be put forward (if nominated by someone else).

·         Award winners and finalists must agree to take part in publicity and activities generated by the Commonwealth.

·         The development work can be within any number of areas, including agriculture, skills training, arts and culture, environment protection, education, health and well-being, human rights, information and communications technology, journalism and many more areas including sport, science and sustainability.

Nomination Process

Applications open 6 July 2015 and close 31 August 2015. Complete the online nomination form to submit a nomination.

You will be required to provide:

·         Details about yourself

·         Details about the person you are nominating (if nominating someone)

·         The reasons you think the nominee (or you, if you are nominating yourself) deserves to win

·         A description of the development work and how it makes a positive difference to the lives of others.

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.
Nominations can only be received via the online form or by email. If you are having problems with the online form, you may cut and paste the information into a word document and send as an attachment to youth@commonwealth.int