Prime Minister Bruce Golding has called on young Jamaicans to strive for excellence, and not to settle for medio-crity as, with hard work, great achievements can be made.

He was speaking at the Prime Minister's National Youth Awards and the Jamaican Youth in Concert at Emancipation Park on (December 2), where 17 young persons were awarded for excellence in the fields of arts and culture, academics, agriculture, entrepreneurship, leadership, journalism, sports, and youth in service.

The awards, which were hosted by the National Centre for Youth Development, were presented during an entertainment-packed concert under the distinguished patronage of Prime Minister Golding.

Mr. Golding congratulated the nominees and recipients, stating that it was important for the society to recognise their efforts as a symbol of what young persons can achieve.

Don't resign to failure

"There are too many of our young people who are content to just get back, who are satisfied with mediocrity," the Prime Minister said. "There are too many who are prepared to resign themselves to failure; it doesn't have to be that way. We are honouring some young people who have demonstrated that you can succeed, you can be the best in the world, but it requires hard work, steadfastness, it requires a commitment to success."

However, he noted that the society tended to place blame on young people, for indiscipline. "It is an argument that is advanced with some validity, but we need to look to see what it is that has caused young people to go astray. My generation, and the generation before, will have to look at ourselves and accept some responsibility. We have left a legacy that has good things about it, but it is a legacy that also has its rotten side," Mr. Golding said.

He added that the moral compass had been distorted, with confusing signals being sent by those who should have been setting an example. "We have deprived them of the sense of the community ... we have deprived so many of our young people of an understanding of what family is. There are so many of them that have been brought up in an environment in which they don't know what a stable family is," Mr. Golding said.