Youth Power

Nipuni WIMALAPALA

(From left)Swarnavahini, Director Programmes, Buddhika Kulasekara, Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development,K A Thilakarathne, the chairman/Director General of NYSC, Lalith Pium Perera, Youth Affairs and Skills Development Minister, Dallus Alahapperuma,Monitoring M.P., Youth Affairs and Skills Development,Mohan Lal Grero and Additional Secretary of Ministry of Youth Affirs and Skills Development, Nilanthi Sugathadasa

A dance item

Chairman/Director General of NYSC,Lalith Pium Perera addressing the gathering

Winner of EYLA 2011 - Generation 1, Ajanthan addressing the gathering

Making the stage rock! Pictures by Lalith C Gamage

Youth are innovative, creative and smart. They are gifted in many ways. Creating a novel path to showcase youth's power in leadership, Emerging Young Leader Award (EYLA) launched its second version, EYLA 2012. The work they carried out last time was huge and completely impressive.

The National Youth Services Council (NYSC), under the supervision of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development, organized the event. They successfully commenced the second account of EYLA at Taj Samudra Hotel recently.

EYLA is a competition. But what is valued more is participation. This is going to be another NYSC's effective youth-friendly programme which entirely follows the 'Sri Lanka youth' concept. It intends to pursue the popular art of reality TV which is familiar to every age group.

EYLA Generation 1 was held to commemorate the Year of Youth declared by the United Nations. It was handled by the National Institute of Business and Management (NIBM). The competition accumulated over 1600 participants through which the best leading characters were picked. The top 100 competitors of EYLA 2011 are going to be the organizing power of its second edition.

If you are a Sri Lankan youth between 19 and 25, you are eligible to apply for this. Undoubtedly this would be the perfect podium for youth to showcase their academic strength, personality and extra capacity to express leadership qualities. The competition consists of five rounds. The first round assesses accomplishments of the competitors at school, divisional, provincial, national and international levels, after which they will be filtered for the second round.

The second round would be more complex and decisive. The competitors are supposed to go through an IQ test, out of which all those who exceed the cut-off mark will be selected for the next round. In the third round, the top 100 will be picked out and let them experience a residential camp of three days where they will be tested on team management, leadership qualities and extracurricular activities. The camp would give an unforgettable time for enthusiastic youth to sharpen their talents and to fasten solid friendships.

Fourth round or rather the semifinals would give a hard time for the competitors. Only the best 32 out of the final 100 would be selected. They are the youth who score highest marks in afore three rounds. They will follow the outline of a reality programme. From there onwards, one competitor will be eliminated each week.

Then it would be the time for the Grand Finale. The finals would be a sharp competition among four exceptional youth who got the highest marks of semifinals. They are required to fulfil three mini rounds to emerge victorious: a written questionnaire, face to face quiz and a challenge. In the written paper, finalists are supposed to answer the questions based on a wide array of subjects including National, International, creative and logics.

In the face to face quiz, six questions will be asked from each finalist. The competitors should be intelligent enough to pick the exact answer out of given multiple answers within 3 minutes. The third part is a particular challenge chosen by the competitor based on his or her born abilities. Each one will be given three minutes to perform. They can present singing, dancing, martial arts, speaking ability, artistic ability or any other form of talent.

In addition, physical strength, team spirit, quick decision making ability and many other criteria too will be considered since a leader should posses those qualities. The best part is, the outstanding winner would be awarded as the Emerging Young Leader of the year among thousands of young cheering and will be awarded a cash prize of 1 Million rupees, as well as a foreign tour and a grand prize. This would be amazing and attractive.

EYLA is entirely about youth power and their capabilities. It urges to bring forth the inborn talents of youth. Sri Lanka Youth is the pioneering partner who shoulders the future of the country as the roots of the youth, aims to enact this programme with intention of shaping a group of leaders that can win global challenges of Sri Lanka.

The important personalities of the programme are the Youth Affairs and Skills Development Minister Dullas Alahapperuma, Monitoring MP Mohan Lal Grero, Ministry Secretary K A Thilakarathne and Ministry Additional Secretary Nilanthi Sugathadasa.

The most enthusiastic and responsible character who holds a greater responsibility of the programme is NYSC Chairman Lalith Pium Perera. And also the NYSC Working Director Milinda Rajapaksha, being a very passionate youth, plays a vital role in encouraging and organizing youngsters to accomplish the best and the perfect outcome of their work. If you are young and passionate in leadership, just click www.eyla.lk