Helpforce launches annual Champions Awards to celebrate the impact of volunteering in health and care across the UK

17th April 2023

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  • Helpforce Champions Awards 2023 celebrate the most impactful volunteering initiatives in health and care across the UK
  • Categories include; Best Volunteer to Career programme, Volunteer of the Year, Staff Champion of the Year, Volunteer Lead of the Year, Celebrating Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Volunteering (ED & I Award), Volunteering Collaboration of the Year (Partnership), and Impact Project of the Year
  • The award shortlist will be announced in September, with an awards ceremony taking pace in London on 13th October 2023.

Helpforce - a charity that partners with health and care organisations to accelerate the growth and impact of volunteering across the UK - has announced their annual Helpforce Champions Awards are now open for entry.

The Awards are the only event in the country that celebrate the most impactful volunteering projects and initiatives in health and care across the UK. In addition, the awards hope to shine a light on volunteers who give their time to support health and care staff, patients, families, and carers.

This year’s awards have introduced several new categories to reflect the diverse volunteering activities and their impact on the health and care system, such as the Best Volunteer to Career Programme, with a goal to recognise the best practical support that enables volunteers to explore careers in health and care. Also included for the first time are the Impact Project of the Year and Volunteering Collaboration of the Year.

The full list of categories are below:

  • Best Volunteer to Career programme
  • Volunteer of the Year
  • Staff Champion of the Year
  • Volunteer Lead of the Year
  • Celebrating Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Volunteering (ED & I Award)
  • Volunteering Collaboration of the Year (Partnership)
  • Impact Project of the Year

Mark Lever, CEO of Helpforce, said:

Through the Helpforce Champions Awards, we hope to shine a light on the most impactful volunteering projects and initiatives that have made a great difference to patients, staff, and volunteers.

This is even more important this year as we will celebrate the NHS’s 75th birthday – an important milestone and an opportunity to show our appreciation to healthcare workers and volunteers for their vital contribution to the NHS.

In the last three years, there has been a huge rise in the number of volunteers taking up roles in health and care, providing great support to patients, staff, and people in the community who need extra help. Government and healthcare staff recognise the importance of these roles, but volunteers are still a massively underused asset. We know that people want to support their community and all kinds of public services stand to benefit – we need to urgently unleash this potential. But to do this, more needs to be done to raise awareness of the impact of volunteering.

“We urge everyone to take their time to nominate their volunteers, teams or volunteering initiatives for the Helpforce Champions Awards, as this is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the impact of volunteerism and to say thank you to the individuals and teams for their dedication and hard work.”

Sophie Ross, Helpforce Champions Award Volunteer of the Year for Scotland 2022, said:

“Winning Volunteer of the Year for Scotland last year was such a shock but such an honour to be recognised at the awards. It gave me a platform to speak about why I do what I do & encourage others to give up their time to volunteer. I would highly recommend nominating someone you feel is special in their own way and deserves that praise.”

The nominees will be announced in September. To nominate an exceptional volunteer, visit: https://helpforce.community/awards


For more information, please contact Vy Tran, Communications and Content Manager at Helpforce: vt@helpforce.community

Notes to editors:

Helpforce partners with health and care organisations across the UK to accelerate the growth and impact of volunteering. It is an independent not-for-profit innovator, focused on co-creation of volunteering projects with NHS Trusts and systems, and rapidly sharing insights and best practice.

To learn more, please visit www.helpforce.community

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