Gold Award Girl Scouts

Issues of the world, meet your match.

The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn. Once achieved, it shows colleges, employers, and your community that you’re out there changing the world — or at least your corner of it.

Gold Award Girl Scouts are making the world a better place. These young women are inspiring leaders whose Gold Award projects are impacting the worlds of STEM, education, agriculture, medicine, and more on a local, national, or global level.

Open only to girls in high school, the Girl Scout Gold Award is the most prestigious award in the world for girls—and the most difficult to earn—and it’s only available to Girl Scouts.

Join a century of women who have done big things. Learn about scholarships for Gold Award Girl Scouts, the history of the Gold Award, and the benefits of going Gold.

Are you a girl in grades 9 - 12 who is ready to start earning the Gold Award? Contact our council at info@gskh.org to get started today!

Download the
Gold Award guidelines

Complete the

Online Training

Start your

Gold Award Application

You can pursue your Girl Scout Gold Award if:

You're in high school (ninth through twelfth grade, or equivalent)

You're registered as a Girl Scout Senior or Girl Scout Ambassador

You have completed two Senior or Ambassador Journeys OR earned the Girl Scout Silver Award and completed a Journey

The Benefits of Going Gold

Gold Award Girl Scouts do well in life! They rate their general success significantly higher than their peers and report greater success in reaching their goals in many areas.

Higher education and career

Distinguish yourself in the college admissions process
Earn college scholarships
Enter the military one rank higher

Life skills

Be seen as a role model and distinguished leader
Master time management skills
Make the world a better place

Community

Use your vision for change
Tackle an issue, locally or globally
Establish a lifetime network
Create your community legacy with a sustainable solution to a problem

Source: Girl Scouting Works: The Alumnae Impact Study, a report from the Girl Scout Research Institute, 2012

Gold Award Resources

Gold Award at a Glance

Girl Scout Gold Award Steps

Identify an issue

Investigate your issue thoroughly

Get help and build your team

Create a plan

Present your plan and gather feedback

Take action

Educate and inspire

Gold Award Training

Gold Award Training: Part 1

Gold Award Training: Part 2

Gold Award Training: Part 3

Gold Award Official Guidelines

Your Guide to Going Gold will provide you with all the details you need to complete the steps of the Gold Award. The Gold Award rubric is also a great resource to help you (and the Gold Award committee) decide if your project meets the Gold Award standard.

Keeping It All Organized

GoGold has many digital tools to keep your project organized. It is the official tracking tool for hours, finances, and project details. Sometimes having paper tools is helpful, so you can also use the following resources to maintain and organized project.

Gold Award Proposal

Proposals are submitted in GoGold. Upon receipt, council staff will review your proposal and contact you with next steps. Proposals received by the first of each month will be scheduled for the next available committee interview.

Gold Award Final Report

Final reports are submitted in GoGold. Upon receipt, council staff will review your report and contact you with next steps. Reports received by the first of each month will be scheduled for the next available committee interview.

What to Expect at a Committee Meeting

You can attend a committee meeting in person at the Wichita Girl Scout office or via Zoom.

At your scheduled interview, you will have the opportunity to share additional details about your project. During a proposal interview, the committee will likely have questions about your project as well as advice to help you meet the Gold Award requirements. During a final interview, the committee will likely have questions about your project, any challenges you overcame, and the successes you achieved.

Plan to spend approximately 30 minutes with the committee. If you like, you can prepare a PowerPoint presentation or other media to organize your thoughts. The committee loves to see before and after photos of your project. By the end of the interview, you’ll know if your project is approved for the next step.

2021-22 Gold Award Committee Dates

The committee typically meets on the second Thursday of each month from 6 - 8 p.m. and can see four Gold Award candidates per meeting. During high volume month, the committee may schedule an additional meeting for the fourth Thursday. The committee typically does not meet in December or over the summer. Submit your proposal or final report in GoGold in order to be scheduled for the next available committee interview

Important Deadlines

Proposal deadlines:

Current freshman, sophomores, and juniors can submit at any time. The recommended year for the bulk of your Gold Award work is during your junior year of high school, with a proposal in spring of your sophomore year or fall of your junior year.
Current seniors must submit their Gold Award proposal by March 1 of their senior year. Note that council recognition and scholarship eligibility will not occur until the following year.

Final report deadlines:

Current freshman, sophomores, and juniors can submit at any time.
Current seniors have tiered deadlines based on participation in council recognition and scholarship eligibility during their senior year.
- Recommended timeline: fall of your senior year.
- Deadline to be included in council recognition during your senior year and scholarship eligibility for your first year of college: January 1.
- Deadline to complete the project before leaving for college: May 1.
- Absolute final deadline: September 1.

Your official Gold Award class is based on the membership year in which you achieved your award. The membership year is from October 1 to September 30. For example, awards earned in October of 2021 and September of 2022 are both members of the 2022 Gold Award class. A few recognition and scholarship requirements are based on the class dates and generally have specific dates based on the timing for the recognition or scholarship.

Council recognition deadlines:

Social Media celebration: occurs soon after your approval by the committee; you will need to provide a photo.
Annual Meeting: usually occurs in April, includes those who have earned the award from February through January; must submit final report by January 1 and be approved at the January committee meeting.
Spark publication: follows same timeline as Annual Meeting.

Council scholarship requirements:

Scholarship eligibility is based both on your current grade and when you earned the Gold Award.
Current seniors who earned their Gold Award by January of their senior year, including seniors who earned the award earlier in their high school career.
Current college freshman who earned their Gold Award between February of their senior year and September of their college freshman year.

Submit the application, transcript, and references by the deadline posted on the Scholarship page.