On Wednesday evening, the annual Merite Jeunesse awards were held at the Forum Geesseknaeppchen in Luxembourg-Merl, with young people aged between 14 – 25 years recognised for their committment to society and personal development.

Explorers from Telstar scouting in Luxembourg earned a total of 4 Bronze, 2 Silver and 6 Gold awards.

Telstar's Nicola Laurent stated "Hayley Montague and I were very proud leaders as we watched 12 of our Explorers receive their Merite Jeunesse awards. We also watched as two of our Gold level holders gave a very informative and well executed speech about working towards their Gold award. They described their fantastic Assessed Expedition to the French Pyrenees where they were very fortunate to have beautiful weather last Easter to enjoy the beautiful views as we climbed into the mountains and walked along the French Spanish boarder. They finished up in Banyuls-sûr-Mer and discovered the history of the area as they walked past the Tours and old battlements. They also talked about their skills and sports – in music and dance – and their residential projects, both doing sailing weeks, one in Northern Netherlands and one on the Thames in London. We were then further treated to 2 amazing performances by 2 Gold holders from Telstar in ballet and a violin solo, both performances were truly beautiful and left the audience in no doubt of the commitment and skill of the performers. Telstar was very well represented and stole the show at the awards ceremony this year."

The ceremony was attended by Grand Duke Jean and Crown Prince Guillaume, who presented the awards, as well as Luxembourg's Minister for Education, Children and Youth, Claude Meisch.

The Merite Jeunesse programme in Luxembourg is comparable to the International Duke of Edinburgh Award in the UK and the President's Award in Ireland.