Nationwide Community & Heritage Awards

Help us recognise the local volunteers in your community

Throughout the United Kingdom, there are thousands of people – individuals and groups, who give their time and energy to improve the life of members of the community. The support they give to charities and community groups is invaluable, but to give some idea of the scale of volunteering in the UK, the Government has estimated that the value of voluntary endeavour to the UK economy is around £24 billion. Quite simply, the combined efforts of the country’s volunteers make a vital contribution to the health, welfare and quality of life of British society.

Very few of these unsung heroes in our communities expect recognition, but they certainly deserve it. That is why we introduced the Nationwide Awards for Voluntary Endeavour, which has now been running successfully for ten years. In that time, 13,000 nominations have been received – and 1,200 awards presented.

“I was overjoyed to be a winner, and for the recognition of the Ambassadors 4 Disabilities Project. It’s important that it’s young people providing support to other young people because it’s easier to relate to someone your own age than a teacher. It’s about having someone you can talk to, that’s going to understand and with the help of winning the award we can move the project on to better things”.

James Taylor,
Under 18 Group Winner 2007

To mark a decade of recognising the importance of volunteering, this year we have extended the awards scheme to encompass the theme of heritage. Heritage has many faces, from village museums to biodiversity programmes, from local cultural traditions to archaeological digs. All of these facets of heritage rely heavily upon volunteer support, protecting and celebrating the rich history and diversity of our islands.

We are delighted to welcome the Heritage Lottery Fund as our expert partners in the new awards scheme for 2008 – The Nationwide Community & Heritage Awards.

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