Every week the National Lottery raises millions of pounds that help a variety of good causes across the UK, and once each year the National Lottery Awards give the public a chance to decide which projects deserve extra special recognition. Like many other high-profile awards ceremonies, the National Lottery Awards has several categories, and in this case they each relate to a different type of project. In alphabetical order, the seven National Lottery Awards project categories are:
Best Arts Project
Best Education Project
Best Environment Project
Best Health Project
Best Heritage Project
Best Sport Project
Best Voluntary/Charity Project
The National Lottery Awards process begins with projects that have received lottery funding applying for entry. All of those entries are then carefully reviewed by an independent body and whittled down until each National Lottery Awards category has a shortlist of ten entrants.
At this stage (which is generally referred to as the semi-final stage) the general public is given the opportunity to vote for its favourite projects in each of the seven National Lottery Awards categories. This voting generally takes place in the first couple of weeks in June of each year.
National Lottery Award voting
When the first round of National Lottery Awards voting closes, the votes are tallied up and the three projects that have received the most votes in each National Lottery Awards category proceed to the final. This involves another round of public voting which starts at the end of July and runs through to mid-August. It is important to note that no votes from the semi-final stage are included here, so all voting starts afresh.
By the time this second round of voting ends, each National Lottery Awards category has one clear winner, so there are seven winning projects in all. The winning projects are announced at a lavish National Lottery Awards ceremony and each winner receives a cash prize over and above the lottery funding that has previously been awarded. The seven winning projects are then featured on a special television show broadcast later in the year by the BBC.
Projects in the National lottery Awards
The National Lottery Awards present the lottery-playing public with a fantastic opportunity to get involved in a more “hands-on” way than by simply purchasing lottery tickets (which is where the money for good causes comes from in the first place). Players can vote for their favourite National Lottery Awards projects by telephone or online, and in the process become more familiar with some of the many projects that their lottery gaming has helped to make a reality.
As far as the competing projects are concerned, the National Lottery Awards give them a chance to gain proper recognition for the hard work that they have put into their cause, and to enjoy some of the limelight that they genuinely deserve.
