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King's Award For Voluntary Service
The King’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to local volunteer groups to recognise outstanding work done in their own communities.
Who can be nominated?
Any group of 2 or more people 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.
How to nominate a group
Nominate by the second Friday of September at https://qavs.dcms.gov.uk
You'll need:
- someone who knows the organisation but not directly connected to them to make the application
- two supporting letters
The panel is looking for excellence and innovation. Applications are assessed nationally and reviewed locally, organised through the Lieutenancy office.
Applications are then finally adjudicated by national panels and announced on HM The King's Birthday (14 November)
2023 winners and previous winners
2023: Suffolk Agricultural Association Educational Volunteers
2022: BSC Multicultural Services
2022: Suffolk Lowland Search & Rescue
2022: Bury St Edmunds Rickshaw
2022: Halesworth Volunteers
2021: Butley Ferrymen
2021: Inside Out Community
2021: Hour Community
2021: Success After Stroke
2019: The Rural Coffee Caravan Information Project (details on InfoLink)
2018: Upbeat Support Group
2017: The Friends of Thetford Forest
Support for voluntary groups in Suffolk
The Lord-Lieutenant has set up a special group to help encourage more Suffolk Voluntary Groups to achieve this prestigious award.
It's the equivalent of an MBE and comes with great kudos, allowing the recipients to wear KAVS badges and to carry the emblem on their stationery. It's an award that is greatly respected by funders and statutory bodies.
We have a group of Deputy Lieutenants and professionals from the voluntary sector in Suffolk who are ready and willing to help you through the process with advice and support. We can advise on whom might be best placed to write your nomination and supporting letters and how to make the best possible case for the group you are considering nominating.
Contact information
Judith Shallow DL
Suffolk Lieutenancy KAVS Group
07866 547277
Sue Bennitt
Secretary to HM Lord Lieutenant, Clare, Countess of Euston
01473 264004