Youngsters who achieved their gold Duke of Edinburgh awards were presented with the accolade by Lieutenant Governor Sir Richard Gozney in a reception at Government House.

This year 24 young people attended the reception to collect their gold award.

Silver and bronze awards are presented each autumn at a ceremony at the Gaiety Theatre.

Island co-ordinator of the award, Allison Barnes, said the presentation at Government House gives the recipients the ’opportunity to have their families there and means their families can see what their hard work achieved’.

She added: ’Being the last of the awards, the gold is obviously the biggest challenge and this year I’ve had 25 come through our system and complete their gold award which is fantastic.’

To achieve their awards, young people aged between 14 and 25 complete years of volunteer work, physical activity, a skill and at least three expeditions as they progress through their bronze, silver and gold awards.

At gold level, participants must do an additional fifth residential section, which involves staying and working away from home for five days, doing a shared activity.

At any one time about 800 young people in the Isle of Man are working towards awards via their secondary schools, voluntary youth organisations or youth groups.

The Duke of Edinburgh award was started by Prince Philip in 1956 and was expanded to the Isle of Man in 1959.

The Lieutenant Governor told the Manx Independent that he and his wife ’had been supporters of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards in Southern Africa 25 years ago and in Bermuda 10 years ago.

He said: ’We were very glad to host the Gold awardees and their families at Government House for a fourth time. Once again a striking number of the young men and women of the Isle of Man have achieved the tough standard set.’