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In 2002, in celebration of Her Majesty’s Golden Jubilee, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award for Voluntary Service by Groups in the Community was established. Its purpose is to recognise groups of individuals who are giving their time freely for the benefit of others. It is the highest honour that can be bestowed upon groups of this kind and is equivalent in status to the MBE. As such, the Queen’s Award not only serves to provide recognition of volunteer groups, but also demonstrates the high respect in which volunteering is held.
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30/10/08 We are now recruiting chairs and members for the two new Committees which will uphold the prestige of the Award and will play central roles in recommending groups to The Queen. Further information and an application form can be found at the recruitment page
11/10/08 – The Office of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office today announced the period for nominating groups for consideration for the 2009 Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service has now ended and that nominations received after today will be considered for the 2010 Award.
Nomination forms can be submitted at any time during the year, and The Office of the Third Sector is keen to receive new nominations for voluntary groups, including those involved with youth, minority and rural communities.
More than 600 groups have already been recognised since the Award was created by Her Majesty to mark the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in 2002, with 79 groups being selected to receive it in 2008. Winners of the 2009 Award will be announced in June 2009.
Reflecting on what winning can mean to groups, Sanja Kane, Manager of Learn English at Home (LEAH), recipient of the 2008 Award for its delivery of one-to-one home tutoring in English and befriending of non-English speaking residents, said:
“We were so honoured to receive this prestigious Award – all the more precious to us because we know that there are so many worthy voluntary organisations in the UK.
“Last year was a difficult one for us and the Award couldn’t have come at a better time, recognising as it does the commitment of all those who have volunteered for us over many years, and without whom we would not be where we are today.”
Further information on how you can nominate a local voluntary group
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 The
Queen announced the Award during her address to both Houses
of Parliament on 30 April 2002.
The Queen spoke of the Award in her Christmas
Broadcast to the Commonwealth 2003.
The relevant part of the speeches, which
are available below, can be listened to in 'wav' format
(this will run using windows media player), viewed in flash
format
(you will require the flash plugin installed), or read
by accessing the transcript.
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