As we are nearing the end of 2024, we would like to take the time to congratulate all our participants on their dedication and effort they have put towards their Duke of Edinburgh's Award this year. While it may not have always been easy, we hope you have had the opportunities to expand your experiences and have had the chance to take up a new challenge.

To our Bronze and Silver Awardees - Congratulations on your Awards and we hope to see you continuing your journey in the new year with another level. To our Gold Awardees - You have completed a prestigious international award that is evidence of your hard work and commitment, Congratulations on this incredible achievement! And to our amazing volunteer Award Leaders - Thank you for all the hard work you have put in over the past year

The Auckland Challenge office will be closed from the 20th of December to the 13th of January. To give our staff and Award Leaders a break we will not be responding to queries during this time - Make sure to get in touch with us soon if you need any support

Have you logged all your activities this year? You may have completed more of your Award than you think! Make sure you look through your logs to ensure you have recorded everything you have done.

Do you have sections waiting for Assessor Approval? Assessors only have a short time to write a report once your section is complete - check through your complete sections and resend your Assessor the link at the bottom of the page (make sure to let them know it's coming). This is one of the biggest blocks participants face.

Need your certificate? Both Auckland Challenge and The Award's offices close mid-December. if you need your certificate before February, make sure to get your Award submitted for leader approval in the next week.

Need help? Make sure you get in touch with us before we close, you can do this via phone, email, or online.

We love to be able to share our participant's activities with the community. This is both a celebration of what you are working on, and serves as an inspiration to other participants. If you have photos of any of your sections make sure you send them to dofe@aucklandchallenge.org.nz so we can share them!

If you have questions about Your Award, are feeling stuck, or just need to talk, make sure you get in contact with your Award Leader as soon as possible! You can email us on dofe@aucklandchallenge.org.nz or book an online meeting below! 

Auckland Challenge is a charity working to make this valuable Award as accessible as possible to all those who need it, or want to complete it. Over the past 25 years we have helped thousands of participants achieve hundreds of Awards. To do this we have one of the lowest enrolment fees, combined with the most support for participants in the country. But we need your help - we rely on grants and donations to operate, and these are getting harder to receive as the need for nonprofit services grows.

Can you help us out? If you can send us a testimonial of the benefit Auckland Challenge or the Award has provided you this greatly helps us support our grant applications. Alternatively we would greatly appreciate it if you can donate to help us continue providing these valuable services. To find out more https://aucklandchallenge.org.nz/help-us-out

We would like to thank everyone who has supported us and our participants this year, including the Spirit of Adventure Trust, Auckland Sea Kayaks, The Duke of Edinburgh's Hillary Award, The Ministry of Youth Development, Sport New Zealand, The Friedlander Foundation, Foundation North, Lotteries New Zealand, COGS, Pub Charities, and Auckland Council 

We would like to thank you allowing us to join in your experiences over the past year for look forward to working with all of you new year.

lin.kiwi/aucklandchallenge