The King’s Award for Voluntary Service

The King's Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK to recognise outstanding work done in their own communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate the anniversary of The Queen's coronation. It is the MBE for volunteer groups.  Any group doing volunteer work that provides a social, economic or environmental service to the local community can be nominated for the award. Each group is assessed on the benefit it brings to the local community and its standing within that community.

The award’s name changed following the death of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.

262 charities and organisations were awarded the King’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2023; Oxfordshire’s winner in 2023 was:

Seesaw a charity which provides grief support for children and young people in Oxfordshire. The award will be presented on 15 February 2024 by the Lord-Lieutenant at Somerville College, Oxford.

https://kavs.dcms.gov.uk/

Oxfordshire Nominations for 2024 Awards

 

Nominations for 2024 have been submitted and winners will be announced on 14 November. 

The award was created to celebrate groups that are truly outstanding and make a big difference to their local communities, where volunteers rather than paid staff are in the driving seat and which have the highest standards in everything they do.  We have many such groups in Oxfordshire! 

Nominations need to be made by someone independent of the group through an on-line form.  There is lots of information on the website about eligibility and the nomination process, but important points to note are: 

  • The group needs to have a majority of volunteers, but can have some paid staff;

  • There need to be at least 3 volunteers involved, but there could be thousands;

  • The group must have been around for at least 3 years;

  • Unlike individual honours, nominations are not kept secret so the nominator needs to work with the group to make the nomination;

  • Groups don’t necessarily need to be registered charities.  Many winners are, but some are not;

  • There needs to be something that sets the group apart from others:  it may be unique in what it does or it may go above and beyond other similar organisations;

  • Just being nominated for the award is recognition that a group of volunteers is something special! 

  • Nominations need to be made by someone who is not connected to the group, so not one of the volunteers or the members.

Lots of information is on the KAVS website, at kavs.dcms.gov.uk. Locally, advice and support to make nominations is available from the Oxfordshire Lieutenancy’s lead, Lynda Atkins DL. She can be contacted at lieutenancy-office@oxfordshire-lieutenancy.co.uk . Please do get in touch to discuss any ideas you may have for nominations or if you have any questions.