NIHE: Rural Community Awards

Overview

The Housing Executive is delighted to launch their latest Rural Community Awards competition.

They want to continue to celebrate the work of volunteers across NI who are quite often the ‘unsung heroes’ within our communities, going above and beyond to promote health and well-being, individual and community development, social inclusion and to help make life better for all residents

The following awards are available this year.

Rural Community Spirit
The aim of this award is to focus on and reward those community groups who work together to make their village or small settlement a better place to live.

Consideration will be given to any aspect of community work which has been undertaken to improve the quality of life of residents, with particular emphasis on facilities, services and activities which have been made available for specific groups within the community.

Community Champion
Their Community Champion award is open to extraordinary individuals nominated by the rural community group they represent. This person may regularly sacrifice free time to help others with no requirement for recompense or appreciation.

They see a community champion as someone who shares their time, skills and knowledge of a local community, to become a driving force to sustain and improve the community as a whole. 

Cleaner & Greener
The Cleaner & Greener Rural Community award seeks to reward and encourage those rural communities who have come together to protect and enhance their built and natural environment and to promote sustainability with their residents.

Prize money

There will be a £1,000 prize for the winners of the northern and southern Community Spirit and Cleaner & Greener awards, and £500 will be donated to the community groups nominating the highly commended winning applicants.

Plaques will be presented to individual(s) who have been deemed to be community champions.

Prize money should be used to support and extend activities/projects which benefit the rural community. They will promote the competition throughout the year on their website and through relevant rural publications but community groups should also involve the Housing Executive in any publicity they carry out locally.

Eligibility

The Rural Community Spirit, Community Champion and Cleaner & Greener Awards are open to all community groups, residents groups, voluntary groups or other groups having a constitution and acting in the interest of a rural settlement within Northern Ireland (as defined by NISRA) providing that they meet the following criteria:

• They must be properly constituted and provide evidence of a constitution/articles of association;
• They must operate on a not-for-profit basis;
• They must demonstrate appropriate financial management e.g. manage finance through a bank account specifically in the name of the group.

In assessment of entry forms, additional points will be awarded to community groups who can demonstrate that activities undertaken within the village will benefit the residents of a Housing Executive estate or/ and if there is Housing Community Network (HCN)/District Inter Agency (DIA)/Area Scrutiny Panel (ASP) involvement in the community group.

The Community Champion Award is open to all community groups who nominate an individual. The groups must adhere to the conditions set above.

The competition is all about recognising your village as a whole and so consideration will only be given to one application per village. If there is more than one group operating within the village then they suggest that a collective application is made. 

Community groups can enter either one, two or all three categories. Initial assessment will be based on the information included in the entry form but groups are also encouraged to submit supporting information such as photos, newspaper clippings or any other evidence of community activity.

All prize money is aimed at supporting and extending activities/projects which benefit the rural community.

They will promote the competition throughout the year on their website and through relevant rural publications but community groups should also involve the Housing Executive in any publicity they carry out locally.

Rural definition

In line with the NISRA default urban/rural definition, the Housing Executive considers all settlements with a population <5,000 as rural. For confirmation that your village is eligible please contact rural.housing@nihe.gov.uk or alternatively visit the NISRA website.

Please note that previous award winners will not be considered for the same award for two years following their successful application.

Assessment

Entry forms will be reviewed by an assessment panel comprising both Housing Executive representatives and independent representatives from Supporting Communities NI.