“Through this award, I have overcome many challenges. Through my physical skill, as well as competing in many cycling sportives across the country, I finally learned how to swim, something which I had always been afraid of doing”

Emma McKinley – President’s Award Leader and Gaisce Gold Awardee

Gold

Time Requirements

With exception to the Adventure Journey, each challenge area requires a minimum participation of 1 hour per week for 52 weeks.

The Adventure Journey takes place over a minimum of 4 days and 3 nights. The Residential Project takes place over a minimum of 5 days and 4 nights – see below for details.

Silver Awardees

If you have completed a Silver Award, you just need to fulfil the requirements above, and so your Gold Award will take at least 52 weeks to complete.

Participants without a Silver Award

If you haven’t completed a Silver Award, an additional 26 weeks must completed in one challenge area of your choice. This could be an activity you really enjoyed, or an activity in which you feel you still have room for improvement. As a result, it will take at least 78 weeks to complete your Gold Award, however everyone is free to complete the award at their own pace.

The application fee for the Gold Award is €25.

'PARTICIPANT SIGN UP' BUTTON STRIPE

Frequently Asked Questions

Portfolio submission date is strictly 1st October each year.

The Portfolio is a record of your Gold Award experience, exhibiting evidence of your Award activities.

A link to portfolio guidelines is available here: Gaisce Portfolio Example.

Yes, attending our Going for Gold sessions are mandatory for participants and PALs.  Keep an eye on our website and social media for announcements.  We will also hold Gold portfolio sessions throughout the year to help participants gain an insight into what is needed for the portfolio. 

2022 Gold Progression sessions will take place on:

January 26th (6pm-7.15pm) – Going For Gold. Register here.

April 27th (6pm-7:17pm) – Going for Gold. Register here.

June 8th  (7pm – 8pm) – Portfolio Workshop. Register here.

August 31st (7pm-8pm)  – Portfolio Workshop. Register here.

November 2nd (6pm- 7:15pm) – Going for Gold. Register here.

A Gold portfolio can be either a digital version (word, pdf, google doc etc) to gold@gaisce.ie or a hand designed version (eg. Scrap or project book). Either way only one version is required to be submitted.

To ensure that your portfolio is received you must send to Gold@Gaisce.ie or if hard copy, send to Gold Portfolio, Gaisce – The President’s Award, Ratra House, North Road, Phoenix Park, D08 YD62. Please note as the deadline is 1st October, you will need to provide evidence of the postal date.  

Yes, your PAL needs to review your portfolio before they can approve your award online.

As we now live in a digital age, please reach out to your participant to see how best to achieve this. Please confirm with each other who will be sending the portfolio into Gaisce.

Gaisce will acknowledge receipt of your portfolio with you, by email. If you have not received this email, please contact gold@gaisce.ie. 

The deadline for portfolios is communicated to you, the awardee and your PAL.  If there is a delay, please ensure you communicate this to your PAL, who will then inform Gaisce via gold@gaisce.ie.  Additionally, you can register your postal version with An Post. This will provide evidence that the postal version was sent in advance of 1st October.

Gaisce will acknowledge receipt of the Gold portfolio in the first instance, however based on amount it has exceeded the deadline, it may be eligible for the following year.  This will be communicated to you.

Unfortunately not.  Once we have confirmed receipt of portfolio, our Development Officers will review your portfolio.  They may communicate with you directly for additional items.   

Gold award ceremonies Usually take place in early December.  Eligibility to attend is dependent on outcome of portfolio review carried out by our Development Officers.  Final confirmation of eligibility for the Gold award, will be communicated to you by our Communications Team.  

Once Gaisce has received a copy of your portfolio, log into the GO system and from the home page, choose ‘awards’, then choose  ‘name – gold’ and you will be brought to the gold awardee completion form.

You will be required to submit a gold completion form, which is a summary of your journey. Once you register for your Gold Award you will be given access to our GO system, which will enable you to enter diary entries, submit a query, submit a Gold completion form and attend events.

© 2023 Gaisce – Gradam an Uachtaráin, The President’s Award is a company limited by guarantee (CRO 251020) and with a CHY and CRA number (8482 and 20020903 respectively)