Yellowknife (May 07/04) - Six young Yellowknifers received their Bronze level award in the Duke of Edinburgh Young Canadian Challenge on Thursday night.

The award recipients were joined at the Canadian Forces Northern Area Headquarters by friends, family and several prestigious guests including Premier Joe Handley, Minister Charles Dent and MLA Sandy Lee.

Youth between the ages of 14 and 25 are eligible to step up and take on life challenges.

They must show initiative and commitment in four areas: physical fitness, volunteer work, skills or hobbies, and adventure in the form of an expedition. The awards are distributed whenever the challenge is completed.

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh (Queen Elizabeth's husband) first issued the challenge to youth in Great Britain in 1956, and extended it to Canada in 1963.

To date, more than 150,000 young Canadians and 2.5 million youths in 60 countries around the world have taken on the Duke's challenge.

"The whole program is designed around becoming a better citizen," said Julien Paradis, the northern area representative for the challenge.

Personal improvement is a definite result of the challenge.

"It's a great opportunity to discover new things about yourself," said Nicole Krivan, an award recipient who is also an army cadet.

In fact, all of the recipients are current or former army cadets. The awards were presented by Major Steven Dubreuil, regional commanding officer of the northern army cadets. The cadets work to promote the challenge, but any Canadian youth is eligible to participate and receive the award.

Krivan used the cadet shooting range to further develop her shooting abilities, and counted this towards the skill portion of her challenge.

For the volunteer portion, Krivan stood guard at the city cenotaph on Remembrance Day.

The involvement does not have to revolve around cadets. Recipient Riley Taylor volunteered with the SPCA, the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Humane Society.

Richard Luxon, another recipient, is a cadet officer, but much of his work was in different areas. He volunteers at NACC, and worked security at Caribou Carnival. He took a camping trip to Bantam Lake with his friends that filled out the expedition portion of the challenge.

Perhaps most rewarding of all, Luxon used the challenge to take up photography, something he's wanted to do for a while.

Rewarding experience

He says there are hard times in the challenge, but when it comes down to it, many youth don't realize how simple it can be to receive their bronze level award.

"I think the schools should be promoting this program," Luxon said. Students have many opportunities in school for physical activity and volunteer work, leaving only skills or hobbies and an expedition to finish the challenge.

"I'm sure everybody's got a hobby," Luxon said, and taking a two-day camping trip is something many people do anyway.

Luxon makes it sound easy, but it takes at least six months to get the Bronze award. It can take another six months to receive the silver award and another year after that for gold.

This type of dedication can result in more than just awards.

Return to Normandy

Award recipient Donald Saul has been recognized for his efforts in cadets and has been chosen to represent the NWT on the Return to Normandy pilgrimage this June to mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day -- the Allied invasion of Europe in the Second World War.

One youth from each province and territory has been selected to accompany the Minister of Veterans Affairs and 60 war veterans. Canada played a major role in that war. A Canadian museum to salute that accomplishment will officially open at Juno Beach in Normandy, France.

If the youth do achieve their gold level, it will be presented personally by the Duke of Edinburgh.