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| Director of Youth Geoffrey Hanley encourages groups to apply for the Commonwealth Youth Gold and Silver Awards. |
Basseterre, St. Kitts (March 22, 2006): The efforts of youth groups that develop projects to address the needs of society, are being recognized and rewarded by the Commonwealth Secretariat through its Gold and Silver Award Programme.
The award programme is implemented in the four Commonwealth regions. The Department of Youth in St. Kitts is coordinating local participation.
Director of Youth Geoffrey Hanley told SKNIS that the award is designed to highlight the potential of young people. He explained that the nomination is done via application forms. Once completed the forms along with a copy of the project must be returned to the Youth Department for submission.
The winning submission from the region receives £1,000.00 and medals are given to each group member. The regional selection is then forward to England for the Gold Award which carries a cash prize of £5,000.00.
Hanley stressed that it is important for youth groups to participate in this programme. He noted that last year, only one project was submitted in spite of his and other staff member's personal attempts to reach out to various organizations.
This submission, which was made by the St. Kitts-Nevis Youth Parliamentarian Association, earned the group the top prize. "You never can tell which project will win," Hanley added, noting that the international judging panel witnessed the quality of work produced in St. Kitts and Nevis.
