Outstanding achievers: Gaisce gold glitters at Aras an Uachtaráin
Fourteen young people from Dublin, including three South Dublin locals, are among the 79 winners designated as Gaisce Gold Awardees in honour of their inspirational and outstanding contributions to society.
Lisa Kelly from Green Isle, Clondalkin, Nicole Landy from Walkinstown, and Mark Woulfe from Rathfarnham were among the winners. In order to complete their Gold Gaisce Award, the recipients were required to set and achieve their own goals across challenge areas, including personal skill, physical activity, community involvement, team adventure journey, and residential projects.
The Gaisce Gold Award is the highest recognition in Ireland of a young person’s initiatives and achievements in their voluntary benefactions to the nation.
In 2020-2021, more than 40,000 people ages 14-25 answered President Michael D Higgins’s call to pursue the Gaisce Award, supported by over 1,200 President’s Award Leaders in more than 750 organisations nationwide.
The President’s Award Leaders, many of them Gaisce Awardees themselves, serve as trained adult mentors to the young people participating across the nation.
President Michael D Higgins delivered the award to each recipient in the first in-person ceremony in the past three years at Áras an Uachtaráin. The 79 recipients invested more than 25,000 hours combined in personal development and voluntary activities.
“Gaisce – The President’s Award is unique in the sense that it encourages young people to set their own personal development goals within a framework that allows them to achieve them and contribute to their communities in their own way,” said CEO of Gaisce Yvonne McKenna.
“Every single day, I am inspired by the courage, the energy and the commitment of young people doing their Gaisce Award, and I am so thrilled we are getting to celebrate the breath of their achievements, from tackling global challenges like biodiversity to local supports for neighbours in need, young people consistently push themselves for others.”
For more information on the Gaisce Awards, visit HERE.
