JCI Dublin - Junior Chamber International Dublin

The Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) Program serves to formally recognize young people who excel in their chosen fields and exemplify the best attributes of the world's young people.

By recognizing these young people, JCI encourages them and others to seek excellence and serve others.

Thus, JCI contributes to prepare better leaders, who will create better societies.

Background

Junior Chamber International officially adopted the TOYP program in 1981. Its purpose is to honour ten individuals between the ages of 18 and 40 who exemplify the finest attributes of the world's young people. The first TOYP ceremony took place in November 1983 during Junior Chamber International World Congress in Taipei, Taiwan.

 Since then the program was expanded and opened up to all countries, including Ireland. The nomination criteria focused on ten specific classifications, and judging is now based on the nominees' achievements in or contributions to the following categories:

1. Business, economic, and/or entrepreneurial accomplishment,
2. Political, legal and/or governmental affairs,
3. Academic leadership and/or accomplishment,
4. Cultural achievement,
5. Moral and/or environmental leadership,
6. Contribution to children, world peace, and /or human rights,
7. Humanitarian and/or voluntary service,
8. Scientific and/or technological development,
9. Personal improvement and/or accomplishment,
10. Medical innovation.

FINDING NOMINATIONS

Nominations can be found from many sources. For example, press releases may be put in the local newspapers and radio stations seeking nominations. Some chapters find a useful approach to take is to study the local newspapers and identify noteworthy achievers from this. The local chapter members can be surveyed at the monthly meeting to get ideas for nominees. In addition, it is worthwhile to study the categories, identify locations where likely nominees may be located and publicise the competition in these locations.

Examples:

• Local charities and voluntary groups
• City and County Entreprise Boards
• Local universities and Institutes of Technology
• Arts centres
• Recycling initiatives
• Hospitals

SELECTING A WINNER

There are no specific criteria for those who win the TOYP National Awards. Each case is individual and is decided on its own merits for the category entered. However, a useful guideline may be seen from the criteria used by Junior Chamber International judges in selecting the Outstanding Young Persons of the World. These 3 general criteria are:

• How well the nominee exemplifies the principles articulated in the JCI creed
• How the person's achievement may have benefited his/her community, nation or the world
• How the person's achievement or leadership may have inspired others.

PREVIOUS WINNERS

Some examples below of previous winners of the TOYP in Ireland may further illustrate the calibre of nominee that have achieved success in this competition:

1. Business, economic, and/or entrepreneurial accomplishment: e.g. Declan Ganley: founder of Europe's largest broadband communications company.
2. Political, legal and/or governmental affairs: e.g. Sophia McColgan: made legal history as a victim of sexual abuse who took on the state and medical profession
3. Academic leadership and/or accomplishment: e.g. Martin Conway: born with a severe visual impairment, got a degree and improved facilities for other disabled students.
4. Cultural achievement:e.g. John Hunt: Art administrator of the Hunt Museum
5. Moral and/or environmental leadership: e.g. Ray Hallahan: set up Mid-West Recycling and developed tailor-made packages for companies.
6. Contribution to children, world peace, and /or human rights: e.g. Ronan Scully: works with GOAL
7. Humanitarian and/or voluntary service: e.g. Celene Dunne: co-ordinator of Cherry Orchard Developing Youth; active fundraiser for community issues in Ballyfermot area.
8. Scientific and/or technological development: e.g. Triona McInerney: work in helping Ennis win Information Age Town Dr. Owen Smith: Director of National Haemophilia Centre and National Children's Hospital; active in consultation and research on Haematology.
9. Personal improvement and/or accomplishment: e.g. Caroline Casey: although legally blind, Caroline has set up major fundraising initiatives for people with disabilities which included crossing India on an elephant.
10. Medical innovation: e.g. David Hall: founder of Make a Wish foundation; granted 12,500 wishes to terminally ill children.

Further information on the TOYP competition may be obtained from the Junior Chamber International website at www.jci.cc.

COMPETITION ENTRY

Entry to the 2008 competition is now open. Entries should be screened at local level and nominees submitted to the National competition in line with the requirements outlined below.

Requirements for Entry

1.    Nominees must be between 18 and 40 years of age. Nominees born before January 1, 1965, are not eligible for the Outstanding Young Persons of the World Award.
2. The nominee must be a native-born or naturalized citizen of Ireland, or must have applied for citizenship by January 1, 2008.
3. The nominees must sign the official nomination form attesting to all facts contained in the form and granting permission for publication of these facts. By signing this form, the nominee also indicates willingness, barring extreme circumstances, to attend the TOYP Awards Ceremony in Dublin if selected as a National Award Winner, and the TOYP Awards ceremony in New Delhi (india), if selected for a 2008 World Award.
4. All information must be contained on the pages of this official form and one additional page (front and back). No attachments of any kind are allowed. Scrapbooks, audiotapes, etc. CANNOT be used in the judging process.
5. A good quality, 4" x 6" (10 cm x 15 cm) black-and-white, head-and-shoulders photograph must be submitted with the official nomination form. Alternatively, an equivalent image in computer jpeg format may submitted via email.
6. The nominee must be entered in one of the ten categories listed on the form. Please note: Each nominee may be nominated in only one category per form.
7. The closing date for receipt of 2008 entries in hard copy or soft copy form for judging purposes is the 6th May, 2008. Soft copy forms should include a scanned copy of the sign-off sheet.
8. The closing date for receipt of signed off original entry forms is the 20th May. Candidates for which we do not have a signed off original by this date will not be submitted for the World Competition.

Softcopy or scanned nomination forms, jpeg photo images along with all competition queries should be emailed to This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Hard copy entries should be posted to JCI Dublin, TOYP, 7 Clare Street, Dublin 2.