The journey of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards

Sixty-six young people received their Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards at a ceremony at The Convent, with one recipient receiving the Gold Award. 

The ceremony was attended by parents, the Board of Trustees and the Governor, Lieutenant General Sir Ben Bathurst, who is Patron of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Gibraltar, as well as Award leaders, activity coaches, assessors, sponsors and others involved in supporting participants. 

The recipients spent between 12 and 24 months completing the requirements of the Award through a wide range of activities. 

During the ceremony, the Chairman of the Award in Gibraltar, Dale Cruz, highlighted the effort involved in completing the award programme and “the journey of these young people and the steps that they had to get here,” over the certificate and badge that recognise their achievement. 

“It is a recognition that they challenge themselves and push through,” he said. 

Mr Cruz said the effort demonstrated “self-determination and commitment” among the recipients and invited families and young people to reflect on the lessons provided by the experience. 

“They kept going when things became challenging and, step by step, they reached their goal.” 

“That is an important lesson that extends far beyond the award. It is a lesson in life, and it’s very often not about being the fastest, or the strongest or the smartest. It is about having the courage to keep moving forward, even when things become difficult.” 

Mr Cruz also told recipients that “you should be immensely proud of yourselves” and of the skills developed during their DoE experience. 

“These skills will stay with you for many years to come.” 

He thanked the leaders, assessors, supervisors, supporters and volunteers who collaborate with the organization behind the scenes. 

Mr Cruz also welcomed the Gibraltar Youth Service as a new licence operator alongside the existing operators in Gibraltar, saying this “proves the strength of the Award.” 

The Governor said the ceremony “is the culmination of a significant amount of work” and highlighted the value of resolving problems “as a team” rather than alone. 

“I think the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme is a fantastic introduction to that teamwork, understanding each other's strengths and weaknesses, because we all have strengths and we all have weaknesses,” Sir Ben said. 

He said another lesson was resilience, arising from “the fact that you can be comfortable when you're uncomfortable, whether that's physically or mentally and above all never giving up, and great to see all of you coming through to pick up your awards.” 

THE GOLD AWARD 

Anna Birnboeck was the only Gold Award recipient this year. 

She is now studying Physics and Philosophy at the University of Durham and completed her final A Level at Prior Park. 

For Ms Birnboeck, the experience was “a fantastic opportunity to grow as a person and push myself outside of my comfort zone, to try new things, to meet new people, new friends and to do things I otherwise wouldn't have done.” 

She also described the programme as a way to “test the limits of the things that I believe I can do.” 

To complete the Gold Award, Birnboeck undertook hiking and practices in France, Portugal and the UK. She chose violin as her skill and fitness as her physical activity. 

For her community and leadership section, she continued her duties as Head Girl and Head of the Student Council at Prior Park. 

Silver Award recipient Arjun Jani described his experience as “very challenging, but I think we had a good group and I loved it. So, we got through it and we got a lot closer as well. Hopefully we all get to do Gold together.” 

“I had a lot of new experiences, and I had a lot of fun, so I recommend it for everybody.” 

“I did the bronze and I had a lot of fun so I thought it'd be nice and, you know, see how I felt with a more challenging hike and I loved it, so I guess my inspiration was to just, you know, do something I love.” 

ALL THE RECIPIENTS 

The Award is open to young people aged 14 to 24 and is designed to support personal development through non-formal education. 

Participants undertake challenges and activities intended to help them develop skills, confidence and resilience while contributing to their communities. 

The Award consists of four sections: Voluntary Service, Adventurous Journey, Skills and Physical Recreation. 

The Silver Award recipients were Lihi Akad, Oscar Chaudhary, Arjun Jani, Maxwell Knight, Marco O’Connor, Daniel Olivero, Lily Rogers, Laura Ruiz, Alana Sacarello, David Valarino and Sarah Wilkie. 

Receiving their Bronze Awards were Nicolas Alfaro, Yael Amiel, Akram Begdouri, Daniel Borge, Jaylen Cabrera, Reuben Carruthers, Shae Caulfield, Hannah Caward-Madeira, Julian Chipolina, Natalia Chipolina, Sebastian Collins Knock, Jack De La Rosa, Gael Diaz, Erin Duncan, Stefan Duo, Noa Elkin, Hannah Elliott, Sophia Elliott, Kenneth Escott, Sofia Frette, Eva Gahan, Ana Golding, Grace Gomez, Anaya Gurnani, Emily Guzman, Aadesh Hariramani Bhojwani, Marie Huber, Siddharth Khiani, Tiana Lima, Lewis Llambias, Anthony Macedo, Chloe Mercieca, Ewan Martin Vassallo, Luciana Murray, Viraj Nagrani, Lucas Navarro, Celine Ochello Alcantara, Lucas Olivero, Javier Oriol Holliday, Dylan Parker, Misha Paryani, Chloe Peñalver, Robert Pincho, Kate Piñer, Ines Rawley, Anali Ressa Moreno, Paula Rodriguez, Sammy Rodriguez, Lauren Sacarello, Emily Savignon-Balestrino, Jessica Serra, Danielle Shamir, Isabella Thomson, Maximilian Torres Pilay, Matt Trewhella, Rachel Valarino, Sienna ValarinoWahnon, Hugo Volny, Evan Wink, Luke Zammit and Zacarias Ziblim Baena. 

 Gallery by Johnny Bugeja.