King’s Scout Award

The King’s Scout Award is the top achievement in Scouting and can be earned by Explorer Scouts and Scout Network members. It is a recognised ‘career enhancer’ recognised by many employers.

You have until your 25th birthday to earn the King’s Scout Award.

The King’s Scout Award (KSA) is linked closely to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award and it is worth working on the two awards together.

General

Requirements

In theory you can only start working for your King’s Scout Award on your 16th birthday. In practice, however, you can start as soon as you join Explorers because things you do to earn the Platinum or Diamond Award can count towards the KSA. You must complete it before your 25th birthday.

You must be an Explorer Scout or a Scout Network member to qualify for it.

There a five elements to the Award which are listed below. You can see the full requirements here.

The small print you may not notice

• No activities can be counted for the KSA before your 16th birthday (except ICV activities which you use to earn the Platinum or Diamond Award and nights away as an Explorer)
• Double counting is not allowed; if, for instance, a night’s camping forms part of your DofE expedition you cannot also count it towards the Nights Away requirement.

Getting ‘sign off’

Once you have finished working for your KSA you must submit a Log Book and Completion Form. The Unit records will provide much of the information you require to complete this but the responsibility for completing it as you go along is yours.

Membership

You must:

• Be aged 16 or older to start the award and complete the award before your 25th birthday
• Be a member of either Explorer Scouts or Scout Network (or a combination of both) for at least 18 months to complete the award
• Be a member of Explorer Scouts or Scout Network at the time you complete the award

Nights Away

You must complete 18 nights away as an Explorer Scout or Scout Network member, of which at least 12 must be camping.

Nights away used for this requirement

• must be different from nights away undertaken for the DofE Gold Award (such as expedition and residential) or those used for the ICV list
• can include those nights away used for the nights away requirement of the Chief Scout’s Platinum or Chief Scout’s Diamond Awards

ICV List

You must complete six activities in total, two from each topic area of the ICV activities list. Click below to view the ICV list for the KSA.

• A minimum of two must be from the KSA ICV list and the others from any of the QSA, or Chief Scout Platinum or Diamond ICV lists.
• If you have completed your Chief Scout’s Platinum Award, you will have already done two activities and will only need to do a further four activities.
• If you have completed your Chief Scout’s Diamond Award, you will have already done four activities and will only need to do a further two activities.

The ICV lists can be viewed here:

• CS PLatinum ICV List
• CS Diamond ICV List
• QSA ICV List
• A chart showing ICV activities for all three awards

Some ideas on what you could do to meet the ICV requirements are given on the links above.

Challenges

You must complete the DofE Gold Award (or the five Queen’s Scout Award challenges which are equivalent to DofE Gold).

Presentation

You must make a presentation covering all elements of your award to a suitable audience, with the aim of inspiring and motivating others to achieve the award.

The presentation should be the final activity you complete.
The audience must include the District Commissioner or his/her nominee

Sign-Off

Each requirement needs to be signed off by an assessor. Your Assessor is:

• someone who can vouch for the activities you have undertaken and provide some basic evidence (a short statement) about your participation
• often your Explorer Leader or your District Scout Network Commissioner
• assessors can be anyone who has witnessed the activities you have undertaken for the specific requirement.