Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service

Twenty years ago, on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee, the late Queen Elizabeth II established the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service to acknowledge exceptional achievements of volunteers working together in groups.

Since then, 182 of such groups tackling issues and problems at community level right across Northern Ireland, have been honoured, inspired and enhanced by these awards.  These volunteers, alongside groups across the UK,  as well as those working to promote and support the award, were therefore very saddened by the death of the Queen, however felt great pride in having been recognised by her for their volunteering during her reign.

Since the summer, there have been several events to celebrate the achievements of the following groups who received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2022:

• Carrick Connect
• Hope House Ireland
• Multi-Ethnic Sports & Culture NI
• River Bann & Lough Neagh Association Company
• The Cithrah Foundation
• Whiteabbey Community Association

QAVS are only awarded to the very best of hundreds of nominations from across the UK each year.  This is a badge of excellence and a real achievement for a group.  It provides a big boost to the volunteers as well as great publicity for their work.  Visit the website https://qavs.dcms.gov.uk/ to read about the eligibility requirements and get more information about this prestigious Award.

Anyone can nominate a group, as long as they are not one of its employees or volunteers.  Nominations can be submitted between April-September each year via the Award’s website https://qavs.dcms.gov.uk/  Nominations are particularly encouraged from beneficiaries of a group’s work, or from those who are not involved with the group but have admired the results of their work.

The QAVS Team at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport administers the Award and they will happily help with any queries.  You can contact them at queensaward@dcms.gov.uk or 0207 271 6206.  Locally, the Representative for the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in Northern Ireland is Sandra Adair and she can be contacted at qavs-ni@adairi.plus.com

• Twitter: @QueensAwardVS
• Facebook: @QueensAwardVS