The Volunteer Awards 2023 is an honorary national volunteering award to recognise the exceptional contributions of youth volunteers for their commitment towards promoting volunteerism and addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The Volunteer Awards 2023 will recognise 10 inspiring youth for their dedication to motivate and engage volunteers to take up the challenge to change our world. The awardees will receive memento and certificate along with capacity development training, personalized mentorship, funding-assistance, resources, networking and value-based collaboration. During the award ceremony on International Volunteers Day, we will also appreciate 100 passionate youth volunteers for their volunteering efforts in the community.

The Volunteer Awards is an initiative of #EveryIndianVolunteering Campaign by Captains Social Foundation. Our mission is to enable youth to engage in the community, empower them to enhance their capacity, and encourage them to create and lead social initiatives. Being a part of the campaign we encourage youth to engage at least 8 hours a month in volunteering initiatives.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

• Should be a citizen of India.

• Should be of age group 13 to 30 years.

• Should engage in 100 hours of volunteering in 2023.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

• Details of activity organised during "Proof of Volunteering"

• Total number of volunteering hours in the current year.

• Total number of volunteers engaged in the current year.

• Total number of volunteering activities in the current year.

• Total number of beneficiaries impacted through volunteering activity

• Level of sustainability & innovative approach of volunteering activity

• Quality of evidence provided through application, document, images, newspapers, links etc.

SELECTION PROCEDURE

• Apply through Phase 1 Application Form

• Update previous volunteering activities in 2023

• Organise volunteering activities in your community for a month

• Online Interview and Project presentation.

STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS

PHASE 1:

• All volunteers interested to apply for the awards should register through the Phase 1 Application form.

• The selection committee will conduct an initial screening of all applications and the selected applicant will be notified about the further procedures through WhatsApp.

• The volunteer profile of all selected applicants will also be uploaded on the Instagram page of Captains Social Foundation to seek the public opinion. The selected applicants can share their profiles to well-wishers, but voting/like is not a criterion for the selection to next short-list.

PHASE 2:

• The selected nominees should submit the details of their previous volunteering activities in 2023 through #MyVolunteerJourney Tracker

• The selection team will review the volunteering details in the tracker and shortlist the primary shortlisted nominee.

PHASE 3:

• The primary shortlisted nominees then need to organise volunteering activities in their community within a timeline of 30 Days - Proof of Volunteering (POV)

• All volunteers of the initiatives will receive Certificate of Volunteering.

• After successful completion of Phase 3, the primary shortlisted nominees will be recognised as - secondary shortlisted nominee.

PHASE 4:

• At the Final Online Interview & Presentation, the Final-shortlisted nominees will be interview by our expert panel of juries and will also be presenting their volunteering activity during Proof of Volunteering.

• The expert panel of juries will review all the applications based on their volunteering efforts in the community and select them based to the following categories:

• The number of certificates in all categories are subject to changes based on the number of application received for The Volunteers Awards 2023

PHASE 5:

• The awards ceremony of The Volunteer Awards 2023 will be organised as a part of International Volunteers Day 2023

• All applicants of The Volunteer Awards 2023 will receive memento/certificate based on the category of award received.

• All volunteers of The Social Captains, will also receive memento/certificate based on the milestones they reached based on the hours of volunteering.

• The tentative schedule of the award ceremony will be on December 3, 2023.

SELECTION CYCLE

• August 25: Application Opens

• October 5: Application Closes

• September 1 - October 31: Proof of Volunteering

• November 1 - November 15: Review by Expert Panel

• November 20: Announcement of Results

• December 3: The Award Ceremony