The Queen’s Scout Award (QSA) is the highest award available
to Explorers and Scout Network members.
You must be aged between 16–25 to complete the award and be actively involved within Scouting at the time of completion. The requirements for the award can be found here, and the process for completing the award within Berkshire is below. For any further questions please get in touch with us at:
qsa@berkshirescouts.org.uk.
QSA process
- Register for the award.
- Send a brief (bullet points are fine!) list of intended activities to use for the award, to qsa@berkshirescouts.org.uk. This enables us to quickly determine whether activities are suitable and prevents people from submitting activities which don’t meet the requirements. Five minutes spent emailing us at the beginning can save weeks further down the line!
- Maintain a log of your activities while completing them – this makes it easy to recall what you’ve done when it comes to signing off the award. Check in with us (or your District Awards/QSA Coordinator if you’ve got one) as necessary, an email every six months or once a year is fine if there’s nothing to discuss, on the other hand we’re happy to speak more frequently if you need assistance or clarification on anything.
- When you think you’ve completed the requirements, get in touch with us and we can arrange to meet and review what you’ve done (or potentially even agree it without meeting if enough evidence can be provided and we agreed the projects in advance). If we agree that you’re close to completion, the participant delivers a presentation, ideally to an audience of Explorers/Scout Network members, to showcase the award and encourage future participants. The log book and certificate request form can be found here – please note that the Commissioner section should be left blank, as this needs to be filled out by a Commissioner at county level.
- A member of the County Team will attend the presentation, and we’ll have a brief conversation with the participant afterwards, prior to signing off the award. Please note that a QSA can never be signed off by someone outside of the County Team.
- Celebrate! A member of the County Team, usually the County Commissioner, will present the award at a time and place of your choosing. We think the QSA is a prestigious enough award that it’s worth making a fuss over, so large District events (camps, awards ceremonies, etc) are ideal.
ICV Ideas
Struggling for ideas to complete your ICV activities? See:
ICV Ideas