Volunteer Achievement Awards 2025
The Strathmore Hotel, Morecambe
Friday 6 June, 5pm - 7:30pm
We love volunteers, and we know that you do too! We are so excited to bring to you the Volunteer Achievement Awards 2025, your chance to celebrate the people across our district who make such an enormous difference in our communities. So whether you want to request a certificate of recognition for your volunteers, or nominate individual people for specific awards, this is where you need to be!
When and Where?
The 2025 Volunteer Achievement Awards will take place on Friday 6th June at The Strathmore Hotel in Morecambe.
You will be able to arrive from 5pm and the ceremony will start at 5.30pm. We expect it to run until 7.30pm, followed by a buffet.
Booking Tickets
Please note that in order to welcome as many people from as many organisations as possible there is a maximum of four tickets per organisation.
Make your Nominations
You can nominate anyone who volunteers in the Lancaster district (the area that elects members to Lancaster City Council).
We have prepared a simple form that you can use to tell us all about the amazing people that you want to recognise. You only need to complete one form per person and you can nominate them for as many awards as you wish – just make sure that you use the space to explain what makes them so amazing and why they should win.
Certificates of Recognition
You can request a Certificate of Recognition for any volunteer, or group of volunteers. This is not a nomination for an award, rather it is a thank you for the work that volunteers have done, a certificate that recognises their support and shows your appreciation. You do NOT need to request a certificate of recognition of you are also nominating them for an award category.
These certificates can be requested for named individuals, or for groups – so for example you might request a certificate for “Organisation Volunteers” or “Specific Project Volunteers” within your organisation. Certificates for groups will be a single certificate for the whole group, not one each. If you want each volunteer to receive a certificate you will need to request individual certificates and provide names.
Categories
There are eight categories of award this year:
- Volunteer of the Year
- Young Volunteer of the Year
- Trustee of the Year
- Fundraiser of the Year
- Lifetime Achievement Award
- The Roger Sherlock Memorial Community Inspiration Award
- Environment Hero of the Year
- Wellbeing Champion of the Year
You can nominate an individual for as many of these awards as you feel is appropriate. Every person nominated for an award will receive a certificate of nomination. The winner in each category will also receive a winner’s certificate, as well as a trophy.
We strongly recommend that you read the guidance to understand what information we are looking for in answer to the questions on the form.
How Are Winners Decided?
An independent panel, made up of people from the VCFSE sector, local statutory, health, and business partners, will meet to consider all of the nominations and make a decision on the winner for each category. CVS is not involved in the decision making process beyond supporting that panel meeting and being on hand to answer any questions that may arise.
After Nomination
The nomination window is seven weeks, from Friday 28th March to midnight on Sunday 18th May. Once you submit your nomination you will receive an email confirming that we have received it.
Nominations will be compiled for the panel meeting, which will take place the week after nominations close.
We will not inform winners that they have won an award – we want the outcome to be a surprise on the night. Therefore we will also not let you know if your nominated volunteer has won.
We want as many nominated people as possible to attend the event so we encourage you to book a ticket for your nominated volunteer to attend after you have nominated them. Because we are limiting tickets to four per organisation you will need to consider how many people you nominate.
We also encourage you to tell them that you have nominated them! You’ll need to ensure that they are available to come along on the night – we won’t contact your nominee.
The Event
The Awards ceremony will start at 5.30pm. You can arrive from 5.00pm. Tea/coffee will be served on arrival and at the end of the ceremony, at approximately 7.30pm a buffet will be served. Teas, coffee, and food are included in the ticket cost.
The bar at The Strathmore will be open but is not included in the ticket price – you will need to pay for your own drinks from the bar.
The ceremony will be seated. There is no dress code – you should dress however you feel most comfortable but at past events people have tended to dress up.
Photographs will be taken at the event as well as video, partly for use on our social media, and we will get some good photos of recipients and winners being presented with their certificates and trophies by the Mayor of Lancaster.
