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Gold Award

Girl Scout Gold Award

Welcome to the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout Senior or Ambassador can achieve.  All of the information that you will need to start your Girl Scout Gold Award adventure is included in the links below. 

Special note:  Girl Scout Gold Award projects are INDIVIDUAL projects and are done for the benefit of the community OUTSIDE of Girl Scouting.

Gold Award Downloads (NEW method using Journey prerequisites):

Please Note:

  • Gold Award proposals and final reports must be written on official Girl Scouts of Northern California paperwork.  Gold Award proposals and final reports written on paperwork from another council or from GSUSA will be returned to the applicant to be re-written on official Girl Scouts of Northern California paperwork.
  • Since the publication of the Girl Scout Gold Award Guidelines from GSUSA, they have produced additional Senior and Ambassador level journeys.  The completed new journeys are also acceptable as a portion of the preequisites for the Girl Scout Gold Award.

You may be interested in ways that you can be more environmentally friendly and also save money at the save time!  Consider opening each packet and saving it on your computer for reading and future reference without printing the documents.  If you must print, consider doing so with your printer setting on black and white and skipping the cover page.  

Gold Award Information Packet

Gold Award Girl Guidelines

Gold Award Adult Guidelines

Gold Award Proposal (This is the "NEW" method proposal, scroll down page for the "OLD" method)

Gold Award Final Report  (This is the "NEW" method final report, scroll down for the "OLD" method)

FAQ's

What NOT to do when planning a Girl Scout Gold Award

Gold Award Downloads (OLD method using focus book prerequisites):

Please Note:

  • Gold Award proposals and final reports must be written on official Girl Scouts of Northern California paperwork.  Gold Award proposals and final reports written on paperwork from another council or from GSUSA will be returned to the applicant to be re-written on official Girl Scouts of Northern California paperwork.
  • Girl Scout Gold Award projects are INDIVIDUAL projects and are done for the benefit of the community OUTSIDE of Girl Scouting.  All current Gold Award project guidelines apply to the project regardless of the prerequisites completed.

You may be interested in ways that you can be more environmentally friendly and also save money at the save time!  Consider opening each packet and saving it on your computer for reading and future reference without printing the documents.  If you must print, consider doing so with your printer setting on black and white and skipping the cover page.

Gold Award Information Packet

Gold Award Girl Guidelines

Gold Award Adult Guidelines

Focus Book Based Gold Award Project Proposal (This is the "OLD" method proposal)

Focus Book Based Gold Award Final Report (This is the "OLD" method final report)

FAQ's

What NOT to do when planning a Girl Scout Gold Award

Flyer and Media Approval

If you are planning to create and publicly show media such as flyers, pamphlets, films, websites, etc., you must get approval of the media prior to distribution.  You can do so by contacting your Gold Award Committee Coordinator.  Please see the flyer regulations section of our website for information on how to create an appropriate flyer.

2011 National Young Women of Distinction Award Recipients:

Each year, the top ten Girl Scout Gold Award recipients in the nation are honored as Young Women of Distinction for their outstanding work.  This is a national award chosen by GSUSA that includes a scholarship and is supported by Kappa Delta Sorority.  

Megan, Girl Scouts of Western Washington

The project: Giving Back
Although she didn’t get to meet with them personally (because of her age), Megan recruited male prisoners to make hats, socks, and blankets for the homeless and patients at Shriners Hospital. She sent the men videos with a personal introduction and instructions for creating the knitted items. Given the nature of the project, Megan worked in close collaboration with prison staff and was pleased to hear that prisoners felt they had been part of something positive in their community and had engaged in something of value. The group still meets to knit, and Megan plans on visiting to share her thanks and appreciation once she is of legal age.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZx0dCWsvU0&feature=relmfu   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am-ypZOh6ls&feature=related

Vrinda, Girl Scouts Heart of Central California

The project: R.E.S.P.E.C.T Club
Vrinda’s Sacramento community had experienced an influx of refugees from Bhutan, Nepal, and India. Vrinda discovered that many of the teen refugees were attending her high school, and she felt it was her responsibility to stand up and help these teens assimilate to a new culture. She created an after-school tutoring club for the teen refugees and collected thousands of books to form “mini libraries” for their homes. Vrinda also scheduled weekend classes to help students catch up and move ahead in coursework.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4pbDSLcMcc&feature=relmfu

Darragh, Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania

The project: The Voices of Time Before They Are Silenced: The Holocaust
Darragh recognized a historical loss with the passing of Holocaust survivors. She created a documentary film featuring the testimony of five Holocaust survivors, so that their stories of hope and survival would remain for future generations. Darragh was responsible for the full production, from interviews to editing, and the film was featured at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute theatre and is still being shown in schools, retirement homes, and synagogues.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNBF6HuPjvo&feature=relmfu  

Antonia, Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council

The project: Moments of Happiness
Antonia has seen Alzheimer's disease in her own home where her grandmother resides. Her goal was to bring awareness to teens about Alzheimer's and to train them to work with seniors that are afflicted. Antonia has spoken publicly at several events, sharing her personal story regarding the disease and the importance of teen volunteerism at memory care facilities. Through her efforts, the first “Junior volunteer” program was started at Five Star Club Senior Center.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc1UivjjJvw

Brianna, Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey

The project: Walk for Hope
Briana wanted to focus her leadership project on child abuse after reading the novel Push, a fictional story about a woman overcoming physical, mental, and emotional abuse. She organized “Walk for Hope,” a two-hour-long event to raise awareness about child abuse, which concluded with a 1K walk. Given the public nature of the event, Briana had to learn how to navigate local government to receive permissions and permits. Walk for Hope started with an informative program featuring experts in government and area nonprofits. Participants signed “prevention promises” stating that if they saw signs or had suspicions that abuse was occurring, they would report it to the authorities. Walk for Hope received a proclamation from the mayor of Teaneck, making it an annual event.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylQ4WSw26o4&feature=relmfu

Alexis, Girl Scouts—Arizona Cactus-Pine Council

The project: Teens on Trafficking 
Alexis learned about human trafficking when she worked with Honduras Girl Guides as part of a GSUSA and WAGGGS twinning project. Wanting to take what she learned one step further, she built the Web site TeensOnTrafficking.org, where she educates visitors on what human trafficking is, safety and prevention tips, and how to ensure that products purchased are not made by slave labor. Alexis has promoted her site and her knowledge of human trafficking at multiple speaking engagements. To date she has received 12,700 visits to her site.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hq76tEyCl8&feature=relmfu

Erin, Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama

The project: Life’s Landing Pad  
Erin’s small rural community experienced a tragic loss when a LifeFlight helicopter was unable to land in time to transport an accident victim to a hospital. After conducting some research, Erin decided her community needed a new helicopter landing pad to protect future accident victims. She engaged with her community, writing articles for the local paper, speaking with local businesses, and presenting her plan of action at city council meetings. Erin worked closely with city managers to build the helipad and instructed them in continued care and stewardship of the landing site. To date the helipad has been used on several occasions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGsmQTqiJak

 

Ariel, Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania

The project: Improving Stethoscope Hygiene in Two Community Hospitals
Following a middle-school science fair, Ariel became interested in microbiology and the study of infectious diseases. After much research, she designed a new and simple technique to sanitize stethoscopes as a way to prevent the risk of spreading infection. Ariel presented her method to 24 nursing units and promoted her method via posters, e-mail reminders, and screen savers. She even added an element of fun, creating a “Golden Stethoscope” trophy for the unit with the best cultures at the end of her study. Ariel presented her work at the International Screened and Engineering Fair and published it in Family Practice Magazine.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WpWQGdnyoQ

Annika, Girl Scouts—Dakota Horizons

The project: Pallets-A-Plenty
The national homeless crisis became more of a reality for Annika when she observed an increase of homeless people living in her city; she also knew that Dakota weather was extremely harsh. Subsequently, she designed “pallets”—resembling bedrolls and constructed from plastic grocery bags—to provide warmth and which could be easily transported from one location to the next. Annika recruited over 100 volunteers to make 38 pallets using 15,200 grocery bags. She also created a promotional video instructing others on how to get the program up and running in their own communities.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLUH5SfRAwo&feature=relmfu

Dara Holmes, Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois

The project: Face to Face and Virtual Career Fair
In 2009 Southern Illinois University-Carbondale hosted a career fair that was deemed unsuccessful because high-school student participation and attendance was low. Dara knew that a career fair could be very beneficial for students, so she decided to host one of her own, working in close collaboration with her school’s guidance department and inviting 60 diverse professionals and community partners to participate. During the event, students—315 in all, exceeding expectations—learned about different careers and received valuable insight into the type of education needed to obtain desired jobs. Additionally, to ensure that all Carbondale High School students could benefit from her event, Dara built a “virtual career fair” online, which is profiled on her school’s Web site. To date the virtual fair has had 692 visitors. Also notable, due to the  success of Dara’s career fair, going forward it will be offered annually by the guidance department.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHvv68WwGuw&feature=relmfu

Gold Award Committee fall review deadlines for Greater Bay Area:

Please keep in mind  that each Girl Scout Gold Award proposal must be completed with timeline and financial plan as well as the answers to the essay questions, signed by both the girl, her leader, and her advisor before it will be considered.

The committee meets throughout the year.  The dates of the current deadlines for review are posted seasonally.  When the last month posted below comes around, the next season will be posted.  Please check back during that month for the next season dates.

All Girl Scout Gold Award proposals needing review by the committee (both Oakland and San Jose) during the Spring of 2012 must be submitted no later than the following dates:

  • March 12, 2012
  • April 12, 2012
  • May 14, 2012

Girl Scout Gold Award proposals submitted after the above dates will be automatically put into the review for the following month.   

Organizations helping girls and children globally:

Some of the organizations listed below have components where you can raise money and donate it to help their organizations or relief efforts.  Please keep in mind that while you can do that as an individual or a troop, you cannot do so as a Gold Award project.  If you find your passion with the efforts of a particular organization, think creatively and talk to the organization to formulate a project that falls within our guidelines but also addresses the root cause of the issue they are working toward solving.

Girl Up

One World Children's Fund

African Library Project

CARE

Mountain2Mountain

Upcoming Gold Award Trainings:

Monday, May 14, 2012 - 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.
GS NorCal Oakland Office

Thursday, May 24, 2012 - 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.
GS NorCal San Jose Office 

Monday, July 2, 2012 - 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.
GS NorCal Oakland Office