Church & Community Volunteers Awards
Nominate your volunteers for these awards
In partnership with Marsh Charitable Trust.
Churches are so much more than just places of worship. From foodbanks to credit unions, churches across the UK provide a growing list of essential services for people in urgent need. We’ve long seen the power of churches to bring communities together and help them thrive.
The volunteer awards centre around the brilliant contribution that volunteers make to both caring for and making best use of churches, and especially using churches to reach out to local communities and using the building as a hub for activity.
These awards celebrate that often, finding a wider community use for a church, chapel or meeting house, can make it a thriving and busy building. Activities and engagement can help stimulate community or grant funding support for repair and conservation projects, and those in turn help to maintain suitable space for even more activities. This makes for a sustainable church.
To nominate your church, chapel or meeting house for this award, you just need to be able to tell us about the people involved, the fantastic things you do and the difference that it makes.
Your application will be reviewed by an expert panel.
What is the prize?
There will be four winners chosen for this award – one from each UK nation. Each winner will receive £750.
NEW extended deadline for nominations
How do I submit a nomination?
Deadline for submissions is Thursday 5 September (midnight).
Click here to download the guidelines and questions for this award.
We recommend that you prepare your nomination in a separate document before copying and pasting it into the online form. This will help you to make best use of the character limits for each question, whilst ensuring you tell us everything you want us to know. You will be able to amend your nomination up until the closing date.
Once you have submitted your form you will need to email at least 5 images.
- If possible, please rename them with the name of your church; this will help us to match them to your entry
- Please include photos of your team at work, or of the activities that your good work enables
- You can also send a link to a film, if you have one
- Please email them to sarah.crossland@nationalchurchestrust.org
Previous winners
Working with partners across the sector we celebrate churches and the people who care for them through a range of award schemes. In 2022 and 2023 we launched the National Church Awards, working closely with partners, funders and sponsors across the sector. Here are some previous winners from similar categories in those awards.
An inspiring legacy
This year, the National Church Awards have been inspired by the work and legacy of Lord Patrick Cormack, a champion of church buildings, who dedicated his life to helping to keep the UK’s churches open and in use – and who partnered with many different organisations to make this happen.
A tribute to an extraordinary champion of churches
AndySillett