News

Regional Volunteer Awards 2020 - one week to go!

There is now only one week to go until we kick off our Regional Volunteer Awards 2020 – nine virtual regional awards nights across England through November and early December to celebrate the amazing volunteers in the athletics and running family!

Our Regional Volunteer Awards will honour the fantastic contribution that volunteers make to our sport – shining a spotlight on the dedication, inspiration and hard work that they bring to athletics and running week on week.

Celebrating the volunteers in our sport is important in any year – but this year has been one like no other. Our 2020 Regional Volunteer Awards enable us to pay tribute to the outstanding efforts from volunteers in the athletics and running family who have helped steer our sport through the impacts of Covid-19 and worked tirelessly to create training and competition opportunities through summer and up to the current lockdown.  That’s why we created a new award category to help showcase this exceptional work undertaken by the many clubs, groups and volunteers across the country who kept people active, and kept our sport running, during the coronavirus pandemic.

This year, our Regional Volunteer Awards nights will take place on the following dates at 7pm, hosted on Zoom for invited nominees but also streamed live on the England Athletics YouTube channel so that friends, family and fellow club and group members can also follow the action by watching online – click here for details including links for live broadcasts.

  • Wednesday 18 November - North East
  • Thursday 19 November - London
  • Monday 23 November - West Midlands
  • Wednesday 25 November - East Midlands
  • Friday 27 November - South East
  • Saturday 28 November - South West
  • Monday 30 November - Yorkshire & Humber
  • Thursday 3 December - North West
  • Friday 4 December - East

The Regional Volunteer Awards 2020 categories feature:

  • Athletics or Running Club of the Year: Recognising both the achievements of a club, as well as demonstrating ongoing commitment and passion through the opportunities they have given to everyone involved in the club over the last 12 months.
  • Coach of the Year: Recognising an individual who has demonstrated their passion and commitment for coaching within athletics and running.
  • Leader of the Year: Recognising an individual who has demonstrated their passion and commitment for leading within athletics and running.
  • Official of the Year: Recognising an enthusiastic official who makes a brilliant contribution to Athletics in their local area, club or region.
  • Volunteer of the Year: Recognising the efforts of a volunteer who is seen as invaluable within their club, local area or region.
  • Young Volunteer of the Year: Recognising the efforts and achievement of a young volunteer (14-25) who is making significant contributions to their local club, area or region.
  • RunTogether Group of the Year: Recognising a RunTogether Group that provides friendly, supportive and welcoming group running opportunities in their community.
  • Services to Athletics or Running: Recognising long-term outstanding service to the sport from an individual or group of individuals.
  • Athletics and Running @home: Recognising an individual/club/group of members who helped support their local community to stay active during the global pandemic.

Speaking about the awards, Chris Jones, England Athletics CEO, said: “The Regional Volunteer Awards is one of the highlights of the England Athletics calendar and is a wonderful opportunity for us to place a focus on the people who often work in the background but deliver such a vital contribution to our sport. This year has seen incredible work from our volunteers who have played a key role in navigating our sport through the unique challenges presented by Covid-19.  They have gone above and beyond to keep our sport going in local communities across England – helping people stay active and creating opportunities for athletes to train and compete.  We are delighted to have been able to turn this year’s awards nights into virtual events to ensure that everyone can still share in the inspirational stories of our awards nominees, celebrate their achievements and give them the recognition they deserve.  Good luck to all those involved and thank you to all the volunteers in our sport for their invaluable contribution in such a challenging year.”

You can also follow our England Athletics social media channels (Twitter: @EnglandAthletic and Facebook/Instagram: @EnglandAthletics) for further updates and confirmation of the winners and runners-up after each regional awards night.

Regional winners will be put forward to an external panel that will select the finalists for the chance to win one of our prestigious National Volunteer Awards (date and details for 2020 TBC).