The Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award scheme challenges young people aged 14 to 25 throughout the world to serve others, acquire new skills, experience adventure and make new friends. 

Each award should add purpose and pleasure to a young person’s life. Their achievements are widely recognised in education and employment. Students may enter at bronze, silver and gold levels, usually in Years 10, 11 and 12. 

Currently, Emma and I have completed Bronze and Silver levels. I have recently completed my Gold award and Emma is still working towards it. 

History

The Award was first introduced in the United Kingdom in 1956, as The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, to encourage and motivate young people over the age of 14 to become involved in a balanced programme of voluntary, self development activities. The Award was designed with great care by a small team, whose members included His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, Dr Kurt Hahn, an educationalist and founder of Outward Bound and the United World Colleges, Lord Porri, the New Zealand Olympic athlete, Royal Surgeon and former Governor General and Lord Hunt, the famous adventurer and leader of the team which supported Sir Edmund Hillary in the conquest of Mount Everest. 

In New Zealand the Award is now referred to as The Duke of Edinburgh's Hillary Award. The name draws on one of New Zealand's greatest adventurers, Sir Edmund Hillary. Today the award has been established in more than 140 countries worldwide, and in New Zealand alone over 18,000 young people have completed Duke of Edinburgh Hillary’s Award. 

Sections

There are four main sections in each level that must be completed in order for you to receive your award. These sections are physical recreation, a skill, a service and an adventurous journey. These sections vary in time length depending on the level of the award you are completing. At Bronze level these sections must be carried out for 3 months, but one must be carried on for another 3 months. At Silver level all sections must completed for 6 months, and for Gold level each section must be done for 12 months. Once you reach the Gold Award, there is an added section known as the Residential Project.

The Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award encourages young New Zealanders to explore not only their communities but also themselves. This is done through the skill section.

Skill

“For my skill I chose to learn the guitar, learn to drive and time management for my gold award. All of these skills have helped me develop as a person and a leader within my respected communities. My time management this year for my gold has been critical as I have many extra circular activities I am involved in.” Kyle Williams Simeon 

“For both my bronze and silver award, the skill I chose to use was time management. For this section I got my boss to sign this off for me as having a part time job while still being a full time student means my time management needs to be very good to maintain and uphold high academic results.”  Emma Green

Service

"As my service activity for the bronze and silver awards, I taught younger children how to swim. Having been a competitive swimmer for a number of years, I have developed a wider knowledge of the correct swimming technique and I decided to put it to use and help others, as well as giving back to the community.”  Emma

“In terms of my service, for part of the bronze and silver award I was on the local youth council, Youth Voice, giving back to my community. During this time we held events where the youth could come and enjoy themselves. For my gold I decided to narrow my service to the Hinemoa House, where I helped children learn to read and write.” Kyle

Physical Recreation

“I am a member of the Manawatu triathlon club and I used triathlons as my physical recreation for both bronze and silver Duke of Edinburgh. Physical recreation is a very important section of the Duke of Edinburgh award as being involved in sport plays an important part in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and develops good sportsmanship.” Emma

“Over my three awards I focused on both team sports and individual fitness. For my bronze award I was able to get signed off from our school football coach and for silver I was fortunate enough to play for the Waiopehu College football team, which is how I got silver signed off. And for my gold I focused on personal training.”  Kyle

Adventurous Journey

"Your Adventurous Journey doesn’t just teach you that there are a lot of very steep hills in Aotearoa, it also teaches you that no matter how big the challenge is, you can get through anything as long as you take it one step at a time. " Kyle 

“As part of our Adventurous Journeys, Kyle and I both did tramping. We enjoyed walking as many tracks as we could, staying in many Huts around our region and the lower North Island. We were fortunate to do these tramps with a good group of people who supported us and made the experiences very memorable.”  Emma