The Focus of the African Youth Excellence Awards is to highlight the accomplishments of “pursuers” in the areas of art, education, information technology, entrepreneurship, innovation, and humanitarianism. The objectives are to identify, recognize, and award young Africans pursuing excellence, and to create a networking platform that promotes collaboration.
AYE defines a Pursuer as a young person who is striving to gain or accomplish an extraordinary project aimed at highlighting Africa in a positive way. Simply put, a Pursuer is a future achiever.
To be eligible to apply, applicants must:
March 14th, 2016 – April 30th, 2016
This is an award category that uniquely displays a segment of culture and is composed with many endeavors. He or she has either excelled in the area of literature, performing arts, creative writing or visual arts. This individual has established himself or herself to be uniquely different and creative through the concept of art, while displaying awareness for the African culture.
A Young African in Public Service can be acknowledged as an Advocate or a Humanitarian for the African continent. This is an individual who has devoted himself or herself to publicly support a meaningful cause or policy that protects or improves the wellbeing of Africans. He or she is a recognizable source for the promotion of human welfare for Africa as a continent and has made it their mission to reform those that are less fortunate.
A Young African in IT is an individual who is specialized and has excelled in web application; primarily focusing in areas that include web design, programming, online marketing and application development. He or she has used their highly trained skill to perform within the African community and continuously strives for positive outcomes.
A Young African Scholar is an individual who has validated himself or herself to be a highly educated specialist by excelling in a particular area of study. A scholar should exhibit character traits of competitiveness, passion, persistence and authority. He or she must demonstrate him or herself to be an individual of great substance and has the ability to influence and educate the African community to obtain comprehension as well.
A Young African Entrepreneur is someone who is courageous, consistent and committed; an individual who has pursued a business venture, overcome the many obstacles posed by the business world and has ultimately attained success. An entrepreneur will also exhibit excellent leadership qualities. This includes possessing and expressing the desire and will power to be an effective leader through endless education, training and experience to successfully guide and influence others. He or she must also have a successful business that can be correlated back to his or her African heritage and ultimately result in enhancing the lives of others.
A Young African Leader must possess excellent leadership skills. He must have the ability to delegate, the commitment to lead and exhibit high moral standards at all times. He or she must be the founder/cofounder of an organization or hold an executive position at a non-profit organization. He or she has helped the organization identify paths to success and has been instrumental in its implementation. Persons who do not hold executive offices but are actively involved in the advancement of their respective communities shall be considered.
This award category focuses on two high school students who have created an exceedingly reputable presence in his or her high school as well as his or her community. These students must have exhibited overall excellence in the areas of leadership, academics and community service in and outside school grounds.
