	Venturing Gold Award

The Gold Award is available to all Venturing members of the Boy Scouts of America.

The purpose of the Gold Award program is to

Recognize achievement by young adults.
Encourage personal growth through exposure to activities related to the following areas: citizenship, leadership, service to others, community/family, outdoor experience, and total fitness.
Offer challenging and stimulating opportunities for young adults to develop and achieve personal goals in leadership, character development, and personal fitness.
Provide a favorable image of Venturing among youth, parents, schools, and communities.

Background

Venturers should have the opportunity to work toward tangible, challenging goals, and to be recognized for their efforts.

The Gold Award program has been developed to recognize a significant accomplishment in a young person's life; it requires outstanding performance in a broad spectrum of activities. The program was developed to challenge and to motivate young people over an extended period of time.

Procedure

Candidates for the Venturing Gold Award must submit a written petition to their crew Advisor, in which they should outline their plans and ambitions for their projects to achieve the award. Advisors are encouraged to have a conference with each candidate to ensure that the Venturer has developed a well-conceived plan, and that he or she has specific goals in mind. After completing all work, a crew review committee including four to six Venturers and Venturing adults will review the candidate's written presentation and interview the candidate to determine if he or she has successfully fulfilled the requirements for the Gold Award.

The program is designed to challenge young men and young women with interests that cover a wide variety of Venturing activities. Several requirements must be met to qualify for the Gold Award; the requirements are listed separately below.

The Gold Award will be presented only to young adults whose personal conduct is in keeping with the principles of the Venturing Oath and the Boy Scouts of America.

Requirements

The Venturing Gold Award program is designed to permit adaptation of certain phases of the program so that all Venturers may work for and achieve the award. In order to offer a challenge to youth, and in the interest of maintaining a standard of qualification, minimum requirements have been established that must be met before the Gold Award can be presented to a Venturer. These requirements are:

The candidate must have at least 12 months' tenure as an active, registered Venturer before final qualification.
The candidate must have been an active member of the Venturing crew, and served in one or a combination of leadership roles within the past 12 months (roles may be concurrent) as follows. For leadership roles within the crew, a candidate might be:

A crew officer.
A team leaders' council member or committee member.
An activities chairman for one of the crew's two-day activities or superactivity. For leadership roles outside the crew, a candidate might be:
An elected youth officer of a religious or school organization.
An elected or appointed team leader.

The candidate must have participated in a district, council, area, region, or national Venturing event.
The candidate must, in consultation with the crew Advisor or a member of the crew committee, set and accomplish one personal growth goal related to each of the following areas: citizenship, leadership, service to others, community/family, outdoor experience, and total fitness. For personal growth, a candidate might

Complete a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) course or an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) course.
Plan and carry out a personal exercise program over a four-month period, i.e., jogging, running, swimming, weight reduction, or physical conditioning.
Practice for, and attain, the Presidential Physical Fitness Award.
Complete a reading program of the scriptures, classic literature, historical series, etc.
Serve for six months as a reading counselor for a child with reading problems.
Visit a nursing home, on a regular basis, over a four-month period, to help write letters or to read to patients or provide personalized services.

The candidate must plan, prepare for, and lead to completion two or more crew activity projects that relate to at least two of the following areas: citizenship, leadership, service to others, community/family, outdoor experience, and total fitness. Suggested crew activity projects are listed separately below. For crew/ship activities, the action should involve at least five Venturers, and it should require a minimum of four to six months from inception to completion; the project should be approved and the goals of the project set by the crew Advisor and/or a member of the crew committee and the Venturer candidate. Both parties should certify the completion of the project(s). Activities should be arranged to fit into normal crew programming. Qualifying crew/ship activities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Plan and, with the help of at least four other Venturers, carry out a conservation project that is approved by an agency of the federal, state, or local government, such as the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management, state division of parks and recreation, city or county parks department, etc.
Plan and chair a committee that stages a major social activity involving crew members and their parents, or crew members and their entire families.
Plan and carry out a series of crew activities over a four- to six-month period, related to an interest of crew members. Professional or volunteer consultants could be asked to present information regarding their specialty, profession, or occupation.
Help organize a new Venturing crew, or revitalize an inactive crew; coordinate activity with BSA local council staff members.
Organize a recruitment drive to add members to your own crew or to other crews in the district/council. The drive should last at least one month, and the recruitment plan should include specific activities oriented toward recruiting new members, goals, methods of publicity, etc.

The candidate must be able to recite the Venturing Oath.
The candidate must submit three letters of recommendation to the crew Advisor that confirm he or she lives in accordance with the principles of the Venturing Oath. The letters should come from adults outside the crew, such as school or religious leaders, employers, or community leaders.
After completing all other requirements, the candidate should prepare evidence of completion of the work and submit it to the crew Advisor. The crew president, in conjunction with the crew Advisor, should then appoint a review committee of four to six people including Venturers and adults. The committee should review the candidate's written presentation and interview the candidate to determine whether that person grew as a result of the pursuit of the Gold Award.
Finally, the candidate must have qualified for the Gold Award before his or her 21st birthday.

Gold Award Device

After many months of determined service and leadership, the Venturing Gold Award should be presented in a setting worthy of the award. Suggested occasions include high school assemblies, religious services, and council Venturing events. The award may be presented more than once. The award is a gold medal featuring the Venturing logo inside a compass dial. The medal is suspended from a white ribbon worn on the left pocket of the Venturing field uniform on special occasions. For daily wear, a white ribbon device similar to the Bronze awards may be worn. It is worn above the left uniform pocket on the same rack with the Bronze awards. A certificate is also available.

Suggested Qualifying Activities

Because of the designed, flexible nature of the program, crew Advisors and crew committee members are permitted a reasonable degree of latitude in approving activities that serve to meet the qualifying requirements for the Gold Award in the areas of leadership, personal growth, and crew activity projects. Likewise, crew Advisors, crew committee members, and Venturers are encouraged to seek out additional appropriate activities, bearing in mind the purpose of the Gold Award program.

NOTE: The Gold Award is recognized nationally; however, the program is administered and approved, and recognition is made, at the local council level.

Supply Information

Councils (only) may order the Gold Award from the BSA National Distribution Center:

Gold Award Medal, No. 04187
Gold Award Bar (white), No. 04200A
Gold Award Certificate, No. 33665
Gold Award Pocket Card, No. 33648