Saltire Awards

Are you between 12 and 25 years old? Are you already volunteering or thinking about it? Get registered for Saltire Awards now!

These awards are the Scottish Government's way of celebrating, recognising and rewarding the commitment, contribution and achievements of young volunteers in Scotland. Try out volunteering by taking part in a team challenge or start learning new skills with the Saltire Approach. Not only does it look great on your CV also by signing up to the Saltire Awards you can also earn up to 3,000 Young Scot Reward Points with each Award you achieve. When you are eligible for a Saltire Award you will also be invited to our annual Saltire Awards Ceremony. Interested in what the event looks like? Check what we've been up to during ourcelebration in 2019 here.

The four main sections to the Saltire Awards are:

The Challenge: for those getting started in volunteering through team challenges

The Approach: for when you've reached 10 and 25 hours volunteering

The Ascent: For when you've reached 50, 100, 200 or even 500 hours volunteering

The Summit: For those that have made an outstanding contribution to volunteering

Both you and the organisation(s) with whom you volunteer, need to be registered for Saltire Awards. You can register with us at Voluntary Action Shetland. Volunteers need to fill in Form A to register. If you are an organisation please fill in Form C. You can find all forms in our resources section or by selecting the one you need below:

Registration Form (Form A)

Volunteer Timesheet (Form B)

Organisation Registration (Form C)

Award Request and Case Study (Form D)

To hand in your registration form or if you need help with any other paperwork or need to check anything out please get in touch with our Youth Volunteering Support Worker Lavinia Schmidt, Lavinia.schmidt@shetland.org, 01595 743911

Please also contact us if you would like help with recruiting volunteers for your group/organisation.

Saltire Awards FAQs:

How do I register?
To register, all you have to do is fill out this form and email to VASVolunteering@shetland.org or post to:
VAS Volunteering
Market House
14 Market Street
Lerwick
Shetland
ZE1 0JP
How do I receive an award?
After you have registered with us, you will need to keep track of your volunteering hours. You can do this by downloading this timesheet.
When you have reached a certain amount of hours (10, 25, 50, 100, 200 or 500) you are eligible for an award.
We make sure to get in touch with everyone registered with us once a year. We will then ask whether you would like to hand in your timesheets to receive an award at our next annual Saltire Awards Ceremony.
When is the annual Saltire Awards Ceremony
We usually have an annual ceremony in March and start contacting registered volunteers and Saltire registered organisations in January to give plenty of time for paperwork to be handed in. We do this to honour the hard work that everyone puts in throughout the year. You can have a look at some picture from our last ceremony in 2019 here.
What is a Challenge Award?
A Challenge award is for those who are getting started in volunteering through a group effort. Challenge Awards are a one-off and cannot count towards total hours of other awards.
What is a Summit Award?
The Summit award is for those who have made an outstanding contribution to volunteering in Shetland. Summit Awardees have to be nominated by their organisation, school or by VAS and are selected by a Summit panel.
Can I have hours from different organisations count towards my award?
Yes, you can volunteer for many different organisations and have each of your hours count to an award as long as each of the organisations you volunteer for are registered for Saltire with us.
If the organisation you volunteer for is not yet registered for Saltires you can ask them to have a look at the FAQ Saltire organisation section to get signed up.
For organisations: How do I support my volunteers to achieve an award?
Your organisation needs to register with us for Saltire and it also has to provide a volunteer supervisor who can verify the volunteer's hours with a signature on their timesheet. Once a year the supervisor will need to request an award for all their volunteers who want to receive an award. You can request an award for your volunteers with this form.
Representatives of organisations whose volunteers are receiving a Saltire Award are also invited to the annual Saltire Awards Ceremony to show their support.