Volunteer of the Year nominations now open

Nominations for the annual Volunteer of the Year Awards are now being accepted.

The search is on to recognise those who give up their time, energy and skills to help others in the community.

This year, in a twist to the traditional Volunteer of the Year Awards, the Volunteer Centre, will surprise the winners in each category with an award at their place of volunteering.

There are 6 nomination categories this year which are: 

• Volunteer of the Year Award - Open to individuals whose outstanding work has contributed to and enhanced the community.
• Young Volunteer of the Year Award - Open to individuals under the age of 25 who volunteer in any area of volunteering.
• Group Volunteer of the Year Award - Open to a group of volunteers in any area of volunteering which has contributed to their local community.
• Best Volunteer Involving Organisation of the Year Award - Open to organisations that have involved volunteers in their organisation to make a difference.
• Skills Ambassador of the Year Award - Open to individuals who have changed people’s lives by promoting learning and skills.
• Literacy Changes Lives Award - Open to individuals to recognise the amazing work done by volunteer to change lives through literacy. 

Kathy Shaw from CVS Rochdale explained why nominations should be put forward: “These people give so much time willingly and freely and the awards are a way of giving something back; we could never compensate or match what they give so this is a small token of recognition and we feel it is really important that they should be recognised.”

For more information, entry guidelines and to submit or download the nomination form visit: http://www.cvsr.org.uk/volunteer-year-awards-2011-nomination-form 

The closing date to submit nominations is Friday 2 December 2011.

Nominations for each of the categories will be shortlisted by the Volunteer Centre and representatives of local services.

The short list of individuals, groups and organisations will then be placed onto the CVSR website for the Voluntary and Community Sector to choose who they think should win and be surprised with an award, chosen by you.