The Award is a Programme of activities to be undertaken in your own time. The Award offers you the opportunity to set a personal goal and achieve it. Along the way, you'll learn about yourself and gain qualities like responsibility, trust and the ability to plan and organise yourself.
There is no competition between participants, just personal challenge. The only person you'll compete with is yourself. Self-motivation is fundamental to the Programme. There are no standards to achieve. The criterion for you gaining an Award is based on your individual improvement based on your starting point and potential.
Participation in the Programme is entirely voluntary. You choose your own activities within the four areas and set your own goals. Each challenge requires a special dedication, both physical and mental, and while the structure of the Programme provides specialist help in different skills, the onus is on you to make your own way as best you can. Success in the Award comes through a conscious decision to accept and take up the challenges.

For participants, the main reward is a great sense of personal achievement. You will gain new skills and experiences; make new friends, and build your all-round character.
For Award leaders and instructors, you have the satisfaction of knowing that you have helped young people to develop and contribute in a worthwhile way to the community.

Participation in the Award is not expensive.
IAYP India charge young people an entrance fee to cover the cost of administration and support. This fee sometimes also includes some basic insurance cover-but check this with your Award unit. As there is such a wide choice of activities, it is possible for you to select activities which are free or very low cost. For example-learning to fly may be an expensive choice of activity but learning to swim may not be-the choice is yours.

When you are undertaking your Award, you'll receive a record book to chart your progress in the four sections of the Award.
As a successful participant, you will receive a prestigious badge and certificate to mark your achievement for whichever level of the Award you undertake-bronze, silver or gold. The Awards are normally presented at specially organised ceremonies by celebrities, local dignitaries or even royalty.

Yes, it is possible to work for a section of the next higher Award before completing all other sections of a lower Award, as long as the participant has reached the minimum starting age for the higher Award. In these circumstances, the exemptions cannot be claimed until the lower Award is achieved.

Yes, participants may follow the same Skill activity for more than one level of Award or may choose a different one for each level.

Yes literature on the Award exists. You can collect it in India from National Award Authority, New Delhi.

You can contact the National Award Authority.

Diaries and Record Books are important for the purpose of checking the accurate dates and times of activity undertaken, outcomes, etc… as these are some times too many to remember in one’s memory. Once you have completed your period of the relevant Award Programme, your Diary and Record Book would be your proof of what you have done and achieved, which would then make you eligible for the Award.

The difference between Skill / Physical recreation, expedition / exploration is that Skill is something that one is able to achieve without sweat, such as, playing a musical instrument, painting, studying architecture, photography, sculpture, crafts, umpiring and refereeing, making of sports equipment, flying, gliding, motor sports, agriculture, bee keeping, bird watching, dog training and handling, fishing, forestry, gardening, keeping pets, weather studies, etc.
Physical Recreation is something that makes one sweat, such as- ball sports, athletics, water sports, winter sports, martial arts, animals sports, fitness activities, adventure sports, dancing, etc.
Expedition / Exploration for example is exploring the natural world, exploring historic land use, to investigate the evolution or extinction of a language, exploring human impact, personal artistic expression or aesthetic appreciation, to carry out health surveys or health education in remote areas, to complete a demanding journey, to investigate group dynamics in challenging conditions, etc.

Community service is in fact more than giving money. Giving money is a simple task, but helping the people in the community, like visiting people in need, elderly or disabled people, voluntary work in hospitals and medical centres, visiting prisons or detention centres, helping with a local community radio or newspaper, sports coaching or leadership, first aid, etc.
Apart from the above, there are other forms of community service which could be taken up, such as, acting in a leadership role in a youth club, assisting in the teaching of primary school children, helping other young people participate in the Award by acting as a leader, working with experienced persons to educate the local community on AIDS, etc., teaching a person to read or write, participating in a conservation project, caring for a public or schools garden, encouraging use of wastepaper bins, caring for animals under threat, working in a clean up campaign, fundraising for a charity, helping an emergency service team, assisting with local or national disaster operations, etc.

The Aim of the Residential Projects for Gold Award is to broaden participant’s outlook and horizons through involvement with others in a residential setting. Gives Gold participants a shared purposeful experience with people who are not their usual companions.

Yes this could be done.

For Bronze level, if a young person is slightly younger than 14, but is part of a peer group where the majority are 14 or older, then the National Award Authority (NAA) may exercise some discretion to allow that / those young persons to start the Bronze Award with the rest of the group. The starting age should not go below 13 ½ years. The participants time however will only count from 14 years and completion should not be earlier than 14 ½ years.

The maximum age to participate in this Award program is 25 years. However, most participants who have enrolled at the age of 14 are often able to obtain the Gold Award before they are 20 years of age.

For each level of success a participant gets a Bronze, Silver or Gold badge ( as is applicable) and a certificate bearing the signatures of HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.