Saltire Awards

The Saltire Award

Recognising the achievements of young volunteers

The Saltire Awards recognise the achievements of young volunteers in Scotland, celebrating their dedication and commitment to making a positive impact in their communities. As a volunteer coordinator, supporting young people to achieve their Saltire Awards is a rewarding way to acknowledge their contributions and encourage continued engagement in volunteering. This section covers the essentials of administering the Saltire Award, from setting up a group administration account to maintaining accurate records of volunteer hours. By following these steps, you’ll be equipped to help young volunteers gain recognition for their hard work and milestones.

What is the Saltire Award?

The Saltire Award is a national programme in Scotland designed to recognise and celebrate the contributions of young people aged 12 to 25 who volunteer in their communities. It offers formal recognition for their commitment, dedication, and personal growth through various levels of achievement, providing an official record of their volunteering efforts. The Saltire Award can support young people’s educational and career aspirations, showcasing their skills, experience, and positive impact on the community.

Award Levels

The Saltire Award recognises young volunteers' achievements through a series of levels, each reflecting different stages of commitment and impact. From first-time volunteers to those who dedicate extensive hours to making a difference, each level of the award acknowledges milestones in their journey. Explore the descriptions below to learn about the criteria and rewards at each stage, helping you guide young people towards their next volunteering goals.

• Challenge

The Challenge award is designed for young people taking part in one-off or introductory volunteer events. This award recognises involvement in group or team activities, such as community clean-ups or event support, allowing young people to experience volunteering in a supportive, social environment. It’s an ideal way to introduce new volunteers to the impact they can have.

• Approach

The Approach award acknowledges young people who commit to volunteering on a regular basis. It is awarded at 10 and 25 hours, encouraging young people to develop consistency and explore areas of volunteering that interest them. This level helps volunteers gain practical experience and begin building valuable skills, confidence, and connections within their communities.

• Ascent

The Ascent award celebrates the ongoing dedication of young volunteers, awarded at significant milestones of 50, 100, 200, and 500 hours. This level recognises sustained commitment, allowing volunteers to deepen their skills, take on more responsibility, and grow in their role. For many young people, achieving the Ascent award marks a major personal accomplishment in their volunteering journey.

• Summit

The Summit award is the highest honour within the Saltire Award programme, recognising young people who have made an exceptional impact through volunteering. This award is given to volunteers who show leadership, go above and beyond in their roles, and demonstrate outstanding dedication to their cause. The Summit award requires a nomination, reflecting the high level of commitment and influence that recipients have achieved. Young people who have earned an Ascent level award can be nominated. Nominations will be reviewed by your local TSI.

Organisation-led

Register as a Group Administer

In order to administer the Saltire Award for your young volunteers, you first need to request approval from your TSI. You can do this on the Saltire Award website. Just fill in the form and submit. You will not be able to distribute awards until your TSI has approved your account. If your approval is delayed or you need to get approval in a hurry then you should contact your TSI directly.

Add a Group

Once you have a group administration account you can add as many groups as you need to. You can add groups for different projects, and you can also administer groups on behalf of other organisations, which is great if you're working in partnership. Each group will have its own set of details:

• Organisation or organisations your group has volunteered with
  Enter the name of your organisation or organisations here. These will be displayed on the volunteer’s certificate so make sure they are appropriately capitalised. It might be best to use full names rather than acronyms unless your organisation has a very well-known acronym.
• Location
  This won't appear on the volunteer’s certificate. You can leave it blank, but it might be useful for your record keeping if you work with volunteers in multiple areas.
• Your Reference
  Again, this won’t appear on the certificate but might be useful for your own reference. You can leave it blank.
• UN Sustainable Goals
  You can select UN Sustainable Goals to associate with the volunteering activity. These are optional. If you select any than your volunteer’s certificate will have the UNSG logo on it.

Add Participants

Next, add the names of your participants. If you're adding many participants at once then add each name on a new line. These names will appear on the certificate as you type them so be sure to use correct capitalisation.

Then select the level of award that the named volunteers are to receive. If your group has a mix of awards, then select the award that most of the group will be receiving. You'll be able to adjust individual awards in the next step.

Editing & Download

On this screen you can adjust the individual details of each award, including which award is to be issued. Just click the edit button on the individual you want to adjust. You can edit their first and surnames, the award that they're receiving, and their volunteering role. This is helpful if some of your volunteers had an additional or slightly different role in the activity (e.g. supervisor/team leader).

The download button allows you to download the certificate in PDF format. You can then either share this with the volunteer digitally or print out a physical copy for presentation.

Authorisation

Higher level awards (over 50 hours) need to be approved by your TSI before they're issued. The list of awards you can issue will be limited to your current approval level. If you want to issue a higher-level award, contact your local TSI to discuss increasing your approval limit.

Volunteer-led

The volunteer led approach allows the young person to keep track of their own volunteering activity. This is especially useful when young people volunteer for multiple organisations, whether simultaneously or at various points in time.

Generally, it is best to encourage your young volunteers to manage their own Saltire Award account. They can sign up by themselves. You don't need to have an administration account or add them to your groups in order for them to be able to record hours and claim awards. All that is required by the young volunteer is the contact email for someone in your organisation who is able to verify their volunteering activity.

The Step Into Volunteering online training module has step by step instructions on how to register and manage a My Saltire award account.