Chairman’s Awards 2013/14 Open For Nominations

Wednesday 3rd July 2013 Bath Echo News Team News Headlines

The Chairman of Bath & North East Somerset Council, Cllr Neil Butters, has launched his Community Awards at a Thank You reception for Employee Volunteers on the 18^th June 2013.

The aim of the Award is to recognise volunteers, community leaders, educational institutions and businesses who make a positive contribution to the local community.

The Award brings together three individually run Award schemes, Community, Business, and Education, under one main Award, focussing on the positive contributions made by local people, their efforts to involve others and impact they make on their communities.

Councillor Neil Butters, Chairman of Council, said: “These Awards recognise volunteers, community leaders and businesses that make such a fantastic contribution to the local community and inspire others to get involved to shaping the future of their community. Bath & North East Somerset Council and its partners are honoured to be organising the Awards. I hope as many people can take the time to nominate for an Award as possible.”

Councillor Will Sandry, Chair of the Student Community Partnership, said: “The efforts of young people are often over looked and it is important that we recognise the contribution they make. We would like to hear about individuals, teams, local schools and educational institutions who by their efforts have contributed to a better place for the communities of Bath and North East Somerset.”

Vanessa Collier, Community Engagement Manager at Curo, added: “As the largest provider of affordable homes in the district a huge number of our customers are unsung heroes busy playing their part in their own local communities every single day, so we are hoping to see lots of nominations arriving from Curo residents, and we are delighted to be able to support the awards again this year.”

Mike Plows Manager of the Volunteer Centre Bath & North East Somerset, said: “We are honoured once again to be a partner for these awards which allow everyone to recognise and celebrate the fantastic voluntary contribution of both teams and individuals in our communities. If you know of an individual or a business who should be recognised for what they have done, please nominate them and let them know and everyone else how much their contribution is appreciated. We are expecting more businesses to be nominated for their community volunteering contribution as a result of the newly launched inVOLve Network.”

The Awards are organised in partnership with, the Volunteer Centre Bath and North East Somerset, CURO, and the Student Community Partnership.

What are the award categories?

Category 1 – Volunteering Awards:

Volunteer of the Year; recognising a volunteer who has shown the most outstanding contribution to the community;
Volunteer Leader of the Year; recognising the volunteer leader (e.g. Volunteer Co-ordinator, paid or unpaid) who has shown outstanding leadership and initiative;
Volunteer Team or Organisation of the Year; recognising the team which has made an outstanding positive contribution to the community;
Good Neighbour of the Year; recognising a local resident who has made the most positive contribution to their local neighbourhood;
Lifetime Achievement; recognising those volunteers who have given long service to community life;

Category 2 – Education Award:

This award will recognise a local school, further education or higher education institution that engages with their local community in positive activities for the wider benefit.

Category 3 – Business in the Community Award:

This award will recognise a socially responsible business who actively supports their local community in positive activities. This could include staff volunteering, financial giving or donation of other resources eg equipment.

How to nominate

The full detail about the criteria for nominating people or organisations and nomination forms is available from the Council.