About the Awards

The Mentor International Prevention Awards provide the opportunity for recognition and celebration of the activity and achievements of the non-government organizations working in the ?eld of drug abuse prevention.

The Mentor International Prevention Awards are an expression of Mentor’s mission to identify, support and disseminate effective and promising practice in drug abuse prevention to the global community. Applications are encouraged from all non-government agencies working with drug abuse prevention. The awards fall into three categories:

• The Achievement Award (€20,000) is provided to the organization whose work illustrates effective practice and has an evaluation to testify to the project’s activity and outcomes.
• The Innovation Award (€20,000) this is provided to the organization whose work indicates signi?cant promise for achieving effective outcomes in preventing drug abuse but which may lack the evaluated evidence.
• The “Youth Big Idea” Award (€10,000) this is provided to support a new prevention initiative identi?ed by young people for piloting and evaluation.

The applications are reviewed by the Mentor International Scienti?c Advisory Network, an international group of experts in the drugs ?eld. All applicants receive feedback on their applications to inform their future work. The winners in each category receive their Award at an international event hosted by Mentor’s President, Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden, to be held in Washington DC in October 2010. The winners are offered technical support from Mentor in the use of their cash award to develop and disseminate their work nationally and globally. This media-friendly event celebrates the achievements and recognizes the work of Mentor and others in support of the vital effort of drug abuse prevention.

Past winners have included:

• Kethea, Greece for their work in community based drug abuse education in Primary schools
• Colombianitos, Colombia for integrating drug abuse prevention within their soccer coaching scheme
• Ugandan Youth Development Link (UYDEL) for their peer to peer drug abuse prevention project
• Vilnius Police Club, Lithuania, for their work within a vulnerable community to provide opportunities and alternatives to drug abuse and crime to the young people
• Addictus, Philippines who works with 200 out-of-school children and youth to become SMART (Sensible, Mature, Analytical, Responsible, and Talented)

The Mentor International Prevention Awards are unique in offering recognition of achievement and the potential for support and dissemination and further investment in best practice towards achieving the Mentor mission of preventing drug abuse and promoting the health and well-being of young people.