The National Lottery Awards are an annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery-funded projects, and voting closes 12 noon today, Friday 18 June. All of the projects have already received Lottery funding and the Awards celebrate how they have put that money to good use. People in Wales are being urged to show their support by going to www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards to cast a vote to help local organisations make it through to the finals.
The semi-finalists are:
Turning Point Cymru’s Carmarthenshire Life Skills Project, Carmarthenshire – competing for Best Health Project. Turning Point Cymru’s Carmarthenshire Life Skills Project (CLSP) supports people who are motivated and committed to overcoming their chronic alcohol problems and want to turn their lives around. Through life skills workshops, anger management, training and employment sessions and advice, staff help CLSP members to bridge the gap between leaving detox services and re-entering the community. Lottery funding has meant the group has been able to develop its services by employing trained staff and has also paid for ‘Project Tyfu’, a horticultural programme that encourages people to get out in the fresh air, grow their own vegetables and make healthy lifestyle choices. The project received Lottery funding from Big Lottery Fund. To register your vote for Turning Point Cymru’s Carmarthenshire Life Skills Project call 0844 6869317 or log on to www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards
Phoenix Community Furniture Scheme, Powys – competing for Best Environment Project. The Phoenix Community Furniture Scheme aims to cut landfill waste by collecting redundant furniture and white goods, like fridges, washing machines and electrical items, and making them available to people in Powys who are on low incomes and can’t afford to buy such items themselves. Lottery funding has enabled the scheme to become better established, with a new IT system to record stock and customer details, as well as allowing them to purchase two old lorry boxes to use as extra storage space and more office equipment for both sites. The project received Lottery funding from the Big Lottery Fund and Awards for All. To register your vote for Phoenix Community Furniture Scheme call 0844 6867838 or log on to www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awardsThe winning project in each of the seven categories will receive national recognition on a star-studded BBC 1 TV show later this year and, in addition to the Lottery funding they have already been awarded, will receive a £2,000 cash prize[1] to spend on their project.
Joyce said: “I am very impressed by both these projects, and by the other semi-finalists. Although they both make a big difference to people’s lives, and they deserve more public recognition. The National Lottery Awards recognise the amazing talent and hard work of the people involved in running Lottery-funded projects, so please get behind your local project and vote to give them your support.”
About The National Lottery Awards
The National Lottery Awards recognise the difference that Lottery-funded projects – both big and small – make to local communities, and celebrate the achievements of the people behind them. The Awards have seven categories – each reflecting an area of Lottery funding: sport; heritage; arts; environment; education; health (in association with iVillage.co.uk) and voluntary/charity (in association with Woman magazine).
Voting for the semi-finals ends at midday today Friday 18 June. For further information or to cast a vote go to www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards
The three projects in each category with the highest number of votes will go through to the final round of public voting in July.
- Calls cost 5p from a BT landline. Calls from other networks may vary, calls from mobiles could cost considerably more. Callers are advised to check with their telephone network provider to be certain of the cost. No profit will be made from the cost of the phone vote by the National Lottery Promotions Unit or The National Lottery.
- All voting is independently adjudicated and verified by Electoral Reform Services
- For the third year running the voluntary/charity category is sponsored by Woman magazine. Woman is the number one variety-packed women’s weekly. It delivers a modern mix of hot celebrity news, juicy TV insider gossip, compelling real life stories, body confident fashion and beauty, and an up-to-the-minute lifestyle section. Woman is published by IPC Media
- The Best Health Project category is this year sponsored by iVillage.co.uk. iVillage.co.uk is one of the leading online information networks for women. A website for women, it focuses on the issues that matter most to women and offers interactive services, expert advice, information and a vital support network
- Since the Lottery began in 1994, over £1 billion has been invested in Good Causes in Wales and over 340,000 grants have been made across the UK
- For more information on the Awards or Lottery-funded projects log on to http://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/
Semi- Finals
- There are a total of 70 projects in the semi-finals - 10 in each of the seven categories. Any vote cast before midday on 18 June will be counted
- The three projects with the most votes in each category will go through to the final round of public voting
Finals
- There will be a total of 21 projects in the finals – three in each of the seven categories. The public can vote from 9am on 26 July and any vote cast before midday on 13 August will be counted
- There will be only one winner in each category. The seven winners will be announced during a special BBC 1 television programme transmitted later in the year.
