What is the John Muir Award?

The John Muir Award is an environmental award scheme focused on wild places. This could be any where from a mountain top to a city garden. It encourages the discovery and conservation of wild places, in a spirit of fun, adventure and exploration.
The Award is non-competitive, open to all and is the educational initiative of the John Muir Trust.
There are three Levels of the John Muir Award, encouraging a progressive involvement. All levels of the Award are based on meeting the same four challenges of: Discover, Explore, Conserve, Share.

Discover: Get out in a wild place. This challenge is all about discovering your own wild place.

Explore: Find out more about your wild place. Exploring is about experiencing and getting to know a place. You might want to explore by walking, camping or canoeing, by using your senses, sitting quietly, or conducting surveys. Its about tuning in and exploring the natural and wild characteristics of a place.

Conserve: John Muir set up the world’s first national park and was committed to ‘putting something back’ into wild places. So for this challenge you need to do something to help take responsibility for your wild place.

Share: A major part of the Award is to encourage people to value wild places. So throughout your Award we ask that you find ways to share what you are doing. This is the chance to share your experiences with others

Who does the John Muir Award?

Anyone can do the award. We work with a wide range of groups and individuals, including schools, families, youth groups, charities, disability groups, outdoor education centres, countryside ranger services and anyone else you care to think of. If you like to work or play in the outdoors then you could do the John Muir Award.

Why do the John Muir Award?

Because it:

Acknowledges what organisations and individuals already do in terms of outdoor and environmental activity
Encourages more activity in, and responsibility for, wild places
Provides a structure to encourage environmental awareness, responsibility, understanding and appreciation
It can be used alongside existing initiatives, programmes and the National Curriculum
Celebrates what’s achieved

What does it cost & what do we offer?

Participating in the John Muir Award is free for groups and individuals alike.

At the John Muir Award office we offer:

Support in developing a proposal for your Award activity
Resources such as record books, an informational video (or DVD) and useful information (e.g. local bio-diversity action plans) to help you with your Award
Certificates for every individual in recognition and celebration of your Award

What next?

If you want to do a John Muir Award then here are the basic steps:

More information: Have a look at the website http://www.johnmuiraward.org. Resources, examples and testimonials about the value of the Award are available online. If you still have questions contact the John Muir Award office (details below).
Fill in a Proposal Form: This is a short form (1 page) that outlines what you / your group wants to do to achieve a John Muir Award. Make sure you have read through the Award criteria and thought about how you will meet each challenge. This form and the certificate request form referred to below can be downloaded from John Muir Award website
Within 2 weeks: Someone from the John Muir Award office will give you a call to talk through your Proposal Form. Once it is agreed that the proposal meets the John Muir Award criteria, you are ready to get started
Get started: You are now ready to get on with discovering, exploring, conserving and sharing your experiences of your wild place
Getting finished: Once you have completed your award activity send a Certificate Request Form to the John Muir Award office. Someone will give you a call to talk through what you have done for your Award and then send out a certificate. Then you can start planning for the next level of the John Muir Award!