Nationwide Building Society has teamed up with the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to launch the Nationwide Community and Heritage Awards 2008, inviting the public to nominate people or groups who deserve recognition for community or voluntary work that has made a real difference to people’s lives.
 
Nominations for the very best and most inspirational volunteers in the UK can be made from today, for either:

• Community Champion – recognition for those who have made an impact in their local community.
• Heritage Hero – recognition for those who have volunteered to become involved in saving a part of their heritage and sharing it with others.

The awards were previously known as the Nationwide Awards for Voluntary Endeavour (NAVE) and had a very successful ten year history recognising over 13,000 people from across the country.  The new Nationwide and HLF partnership will enable more unsung heroes to be recognised for their tremendous efforts as volunteers.  

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “Volunteers make a difference every day to life in our communities and they are hugely important to the nation as a whole.  These awards will celebrate the contribution of those everyday heroes who do so much for our national life and I congratulate them all for what they have done.”

Michelle Leighton, Nationwide’s community & environmental affairs manager, said: “Nationwide is immensely proud of the strong links it has with local communities. There are many people who volunteer their time on a regular basis to help support others.  If you know of anyone who deserves recognition for their volunteering please make sure you nominate them.  Together with the Heritage Lottery Fund we want to celebrate the efforts of these dedicated volunteers whilst widening the scope of these already successful awards.”

Stephen Boyce, HLF’s deputy director of operations, said: “Volunteers are particularly vital to the heritage sector and well over half of the 26,000 projects we have supported just could not have happened without them.  Our research tells us that in just two years we funded projects involving 75,000 volunteers, who together gave over one million hours of their time to the UK’s heritage.”

2007’s winner of the individual adult award, Jane Plumb,  said: “I was delighted to be chosen as the overall winner.  As chairman of the Group B Strep Support charity I spend much of my time counselling pregnant women and families who are affected by Group B Streptococcal infection. We now have over 600 members so the money I have been awarded will go a long way to helping even more families and to increase the current levels of support further.”

Nomination forms can be found online from today. Leaflets and nomination forms will be available from Monday 25 February from local Nationwide Building Society branches, HLF outlets, public libraries and via local newspapers. The closing date for nominations is Monday 28 April 2008. A series of regional events for short-listed nominations will be taking place up and down the country at a variety of heritage venues. The final will take place in London during November 2008.

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Media information:
Hannah Sanders, Nationwide Building Society, 01793 657500, hannah.sanders@nationwide.co.uk
Alex Gaskell/Katie Owen, Heritage Lottery Fund, 020 7591 6032/6036, agaskell@hlf.org.uk or katieo@hlf.org.uk

Notes to Editors:
There are three award categories under each of the two headings – Community Champion & Heritage Hero:
• Young people
• Groups
• Individuals

Stage 1
Initially three regional winners in each category will be selected making a total of nine community winners and nine heritage winners in each of the twelve regions. The 216 regional winners will each receive an attractive plaque, along with £50 dining out vouchers for individuals or £100 for groups.

Stage 2
From each region, three community and three heritage finalists will win gifts to the value of £250 and a trophy, plus a £500 donation to the charity or cause of their choice.

Stage 3
From the 72 finalists, three community and three heritage national winners will be chosen, one in each category. They will each receive gifts to the value of £500, together with a £2,500 donation to the charity or cause of their choice and a trophy.

Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund enables communities to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage.  From our great museums and historic buildings, to local parks and beauty spots or recording and celebrating traditions, customs and history, HLF grants conserve and open up our nation’s heritage for everyone to enjoy.

Volunteers are essential to conservation efforts and to helping people understand the UK’s unique and precious heritage.  From leading guided tours and restoring historic buildings, to running surveys of endangered species and co-ordinating museum youth panels, volunteers have given countless hours to the UK’s heritage and their local communities.  In 2006, HLF awarded its own ‘Heritage Heroes’ award to the volunteers of Falmouth Art Gallery who took part in an innovative year-long education programme which offered talks and activities to non-traditional gallery visitors such as Sure Start Groups, stroke victims and women from a local refuge. 

HLF has supported more than 26,000 projects, allocating over £4 billion across the UK.  www.hlf.org.uk