History
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award was conceived by His Royal Highness (HRH). The Prince Philip in 1956. The programme was first introduced in Canada in 1963 and has seen over 300,000 young people participate in it.
The award is known as The International Award for Young People and operates in over 100 countries with over four million participants to date, including some 25,000 young Canadians who are engaged in the programme.

Purpose
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award fosters self-discipline, enterprise and perseverance in all young people, including young offenders, aboriginal youth, special needs youth. The Award involves comprehensive individual development, self-training and personal achievement and is based upon individual effort and improvement, taking into account the participant's initial capabilities.

Requirements
Any young person between the ages of 14 and 25 can participate in the Award Programme. There are three levels to the Award: Bronze, Silver and Gold; each with an increasing degree of commitment. Within each level there are four sections:

1. Service: encourages participants to realize that, as members of a community, they have responsibility to others and that their help is needed. Examples include: Assisting the elderly, helping at the local library, volunteer work for non-profit organizations.
2. Expeditions: participants develop self-reliance by undertaking an interesting journey of discovery. Expeditions encourage participants to develop an awareness of the natural environment and the importance of protecting it during the expedition.
3. Skills: encourages participants to discover and develop personal interests and social and practical Skills. Examples include: drawing, public speaking, pottery, flying.
4. Physical Recreation: encourages participation in physical activity and provides an opportunity to improve performance and learn to appreciate physical recreation as an important component of a healthy life style. Examples include: aerobics, basketball, weight lifting.
5. For the Gold level, participants must also complete a residential project, which develops social adaptability through involvement with others in a group setting. The project requires participants to participate in activities away from home for at least five days. The residential project can be completed at any time during the awardpProgramme, but is only submitted for review at the Gold level.

For the Duke of Edinburgh's official website . . . Click here . .