Top Awards for young people
From your first Chief's Scout Award to The King's Scout Award, anything is possible.
Quick links
- Activity Badges
- Staged Activity Badges
- Making reasonable adjustments
Our Top Awards are designed to be challenging, relevant and rewarding, but, most of all, they should allow young people to have fun, make new friends and gain some amazing memories in Scouts.
From the Chief Scout’s Acorn Award in Squirrels to taking on the Explorer Belt and King’s Scout Award, each of our Top Awards shows you’ve tried new things, been dedicated to learning new skills, developed resilience and determination and built your confidence. All our Top Awards are a really big achievement, and you should be proud.
Here you’ll find inspiration, guidance and great ideas to help get you started on your first or next Top Awards adventure.
At Top Awards Week 2023, we had sessions for Squirrels, Cubs, Scouts, making awards inclusive, and Young Leaders.
We ran our second Top Awards week during November 2023. If you attended, we’d really like to know what you thought!
Start with your membership badge, then aim for your Chief Scout Award, while gaining Activity Badges and Staged Badges along the way.
The Chief Scout's Acorn, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond and Platinum Awards are the highest awards in each of the sections, from Squirrels to Explorers.
There are three awards, which are Bronze, Silver and Gold. These awards give young people the chance to make friends, have fun and build their confidence. This is for Explorer and Network Scouts.
This is the top achievement for Scouts. This award is closely linked to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award, so it's worth considering working on the two awards together. This is for Explorer and Network Scouts.
Our Young Leader’s Scheme and Young Leader Award is for older Scouts who volunteer in younger sections. This award is for Explorer Scouts.
The Explorer Belt’s a challenge of a lifetime. It's a chance to take part in an expedition that gives you a real understanding of a different country, its culture and way of life. This award is for Explorer and Network Scouts.
Provided by the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), this award gives members the chance to run a project of their choice, with one of three themes. This award is for Network Scouts.
If you’re interested in any of the Top Awards, take a look at our video introductions and webinars to find out more and get some top tips.
The skills you gain from our Top Awards and Scouts are exactly the kinds of skills employers are looking for.
Take a look at our awards for recognising achievements and thanking volunteers for their contribution to Scouts. Please note, these are separate to our Top Awards.