The Lions Young Ambassador of the 21st Century Award recognises young people for their outstanding community service involvement and encourages them in furthering their community involvement and public speaking. It broadens awareness of community service opportunities and organisations and enables them to sharpen interview and communication skills. It also gives them the opportunity to win a bursary for the community project which they have been undertaking.
This is a National Competition which aims to celebrate the many achievements of young people. It takes place every year with youngsters who are at least 15 years of age but under 19 years of age at the end of June of the following year.
There are several stages to the competition – the first would be the nomination of a young person by their school, youth club or other organisation to the Lions Club. The candidate is then interviewed by two members of the Jersey Lions Club, who will chose the winner of the Lions Club of Jersey Young Amabassador Award. This young person will then represent Jersey and compete against other Lions Clubs' Ambassadors at the UK District competition in where 3 judges will talk to, and ask questions of, the candidates about their different projects and work within the community.The winner of the District final will be given a bursary of £500 to spend on their community project and will progress to the Multi District Final with the opportunity to win a further bursary of £1000 for their project.
Lions clubs identify potential young people between the ages of 15 and 18 who are involved in their communities reflecting the ideals of Lionism. They need to have a strong personality, demonstrate leadership qualities and have the ability to speak about their service activities to three judges linked to education, business and youth activities.
These young people can be found in all walks of life within Schools, Scouts and Guides, Churches, St John Ambulance, the Red Cross, Air Cadets, Sea Cadets and indeed from Lions own Young Leaders in Service. Some clubs have found candidates through local press articles and social media.
The Lions Club of Jersey on the lookout for suitable young people, so if you, or someone you know may have those special qualities that help to make a difference in our society, please do contact us on Secretary@lionsclubofjersey.co.uk