Better Places National Awards 2012

**UPDATE: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED**

People working together are making places better.

All over the UK there are inspirational individuals, communities, and organisations working to make a difference to their local quality of life by addressing poverty and inequality.

Overcoming challenges daily, often with limited resources, they’re trying – and succeeding – to make better places.

They’re not doing this for acclaim. But it is deserved. Now’s the time to reward the projects and people that have made a tangible difference to the quality of life in cities, towns and villages.

The Better Places National Awards will celebrate initiatives that go that extra mile, reach out to all sections of society and blaze a trail for others to follow.

If you’ve organised, benefitted from or simply been inspired by a project then you can nominate it for the Better Places National Awards.

New Start – the UK’s leading magazine about making places better – is looking for organisations and projects that are innovative, work in economically and socially inclusive ways, contribute towards resilience in their locality and that have overcome significant challenges.

• it could be the way in which your local authority engages businesses or promotes and nurtures social enterprise

• a community organisation helping the most vulnerable take a step closer to the labour market

• or perhaps a partnership project that’s enabled different organisations to pool their resources to fulfil a joint goal

Most of all, we want to know about initiatives that others can learn from.

There are four categories: public sector, voluntary and community sector, private sector and social enterprise/not for profit. Projects involving partnerships can be entered for as many categories as you like.

Winners will be chosen by a judging panel and announced at an awards ceremony in Manchester on Tuesday, 3 July. Each winner will feature in an awards brochure, receive national publicity (which will undoubtedly help to engage future partners) and a package of support from New Start and the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES).

Winners will be chosen by a panel of judges from across the regeneration world: Toby Blume, chief executive of Urban Forum; Anthony Woods-Waters, chief executive of social enterprise Building Futures East; Alan Riddell, former director of operations at the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit and now a regeneration and public affairs consultant; Jacqui Dale, director of housing and community services at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation; and Tim Ahrensbach, urban development strategist at architects 00:/ and co-founder of Hub Westminster.

Prizes for winners comprise of:

• 2 places at the dinner
• an engraved award
• feature article in New Start
• 2 places at the Summit
• 1 year subscription to New Start (including CLES membership and all the associated benefits including access to all CLES publications and discounts on training, events and consultancy)
• 2 x free adverts in New Start (offer valid for 12 months)

**The awards are now closed to entries. Watch this space for news of the winners.**

If you have any questions about the awards please contact either Austin Macauley or Clare Goff.