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  1. Members
  2. For Girl Scouts
  3. Badges, Journeys, and Awards
  4. Highest Awards
  5. Gold Award

Gold Award

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  • Gold Award Credentials
  • Gold Award Proclamation

Become a Gold Award Girl Scout

Change the world, change your life, and earn the most prestigious award in Girl Scouting.

Gold Award Girl Scouts are rock stars, role models, and real-life heroes. How do they do it? By using everything they’ve learned as a Girl Scout to help fix a problem in their community or make a lasting change in their world. And you don’t have to be a seasoned activist or star student to get there. Girl Scouts who want to get involved and go for the Gold Award get a team of trusted adults and leaders in their community to guide them through challenges and lead them to success, step-by-step. There’s no other program like it.

Plus? Nothing beats that feeling of seeing real, lasting, and sustainable change and knowing it was you who made it happen. It changes the way you see your place in the world—and how the world sees you. Having the Girl Scout Gold Award on your high school transcript or resume can make you stand out when it comes to college admissions, scholarship applications, internships, and job interviews.

Become a Gold Award Girl Scout

Your local Girl Scout council will have more details and can support you throughout the Gold Award process.

GET STARTED


You can become a Gold Award Girl Scout if you:

  • are in ninth, tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grade

  • are a registered Girl Scout Senior or Ambassador

  • have completed two Senior or Ambassador Journeys, or have earned the Girl Scout Silver Award and completed one Senior or Ambassador Journey

Gold Award

Guidelines

How to earn the Girl Scout Gold Award:

  • Let your council know you want to earn it.

  • Find an issue in your community or the world that you care about.

  • Learn everything you can about that issue through research and trusted sources.

  • Form a team by identifying experts and people in your community who could help you.

  • Think about the root cause of an issue, then make a plan of how you could tackle it.

  • Submit your project proposal to your Girl Scout council for approval.

  • Lead your team and carry out your plan.

  • Reflect on the change you’ve created in your community and the world, share your story, and inspire others to make a difference, too.

More resources

  • Gold Award Project Proposal (PDF)
  • Gold Award Final Report (PDF)
  • Project Advisor Guide (PDF)
  • Parent/Caregiver Guide (PDF)
  • Troop Leader Guide (PDF)
  • Guide for Leadership Experience (PDF)
  • Your Guide to Going Gold (PDF)
They earned it, so can you.

Questions? Check out the Highest Awards FAQ for answers.

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