Excellence Awards

The Herne Hill Society Excellence Awards

The 2025 Awards Scheme

We are running our Excellence Awards again, following the success of the 2023 Awards. Scroll down this page to find out how to nominate someone.

The closing date for entries is Fri 31 January 2025. Applications, please, by email to chair@hernehillsociety.org.uk

 

About the Awards

There is so much to celebrate in Herne Hill, and to coincide with our 40th anniversary in 2022 we launched the Excellence Awards. The next Awards presentation will take place on Wed 7 May 2025.

Any local individual, group, business or organisation can apply, showing how they are contributing to life in Herne Hill. Anyone who applied in 2022/23 may apply again.

In this short video, Rebecca Tee explains how you can get involved. Click to play >

 

1. What are the Awards for?

  • To raise the profile of Herne Hill
  • To highlight excellent initiatives in progress or recently completed
  • To celebrate and further encourage community endeavours which are supported by our aims.

2. Who can apply?

There are Awards in three categories, covering the three key areas of the Society’s work: Environment, Heritage and Community.

We want as many entries as possible, so our winners could be anybody making a positive impact: enhancing the environment, celebrating local history, improving the community; encouraging local engagement or promoting civic pride in Herne Hill.

Environment – Putting effort into enhancing the local environment or encouraging local people to appreciate and engage with trees, flowers, green spaces, play areas, wildlife, sustainability or conservation. The judges want to hear about anything that improves our environment.

Heritage – Increasing knowledge of the history of our locality, conserving the provision of valuable resources, school history projects, or someone who has done some interesting local research. The judges want to hear how this work enhances our heritage.

Community – Investing in local people: this might include initiatives for older people, young people, refugee groups, or any group doing interesting work to engage and build our community or enhance safety. The judges want to hear about this work in community relations.

3. Reasons to apply

  • The honour of being judged by the Herne Hill Society to be the best or highly commended in each category.
  • The presentation of an engraved crystal award for the winner in each category and certificates for the winners and highly commended, plus being able to use Winner (or Highly Commended) Herne Hill Society Excellence Award 2025 on your publicity and marketing.
  • Targeted publicity throughout the Herne Hill area: all winners and highly commended entrants will be photographed and interviewed for our Herne Hill magazine.

4. How will applications be judged?

This is a wholly-owned Herne Hill Society initiative, and winning entrants will be those that appeal to the judging panel who have broad and wide experience of significant involvement with the Society. Our judging panel consists of: former Herne Hill Society Chair, Sheila Northover; Colin Wight, current President; and past Secretary of the Society, Pat Roberts. Sheila Northover will Chair the panel, with the casting vote in the case of tied decisions.

5. Key dates

  • 1 September 2024 – open for entries
  • 31 January 2025 – closing date
  • 7 May 2025 – Awards presentation

6. How to apply

Any individual, group, charity, business or organisation may apply or nominate someone else for entry. If you nominate someone else, you will need to submit an application on their behalf and you will need to get their permission. You can apply in more than one category. You can also apply for more than one Award as long as you submit a separate entry for each.

7. What we need to know

a. Contact details of person applying, i.e.

  • Name
  • Address
  • Phone
  • Email

b. Who is being entered for the Award? Give contact details if different from above.

c. The category that best suits the nomination: Environment, Heritage or Community.

d. In no more than 500 words, tell us about the ways in which this individual/work/project/initiative contributes to life in Herne Hill. You can attach photographs, if relevant.

Finally, send your application to chair@hernehillsociety.org.uk [NB this is not a live link]

2023 Winners

Environment Category – lead judge: Sheila Northover

Highly Commended:

Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses and Post Box Happy

Winners:

Herne Hill Tree Watch & Friends of Sunray Gardens, Paul Millington (with Jeff Segal, who runs Herne Hill Tree Watch with Paul)

Heritage/History Category – lead judge: Colin Wight

Highly Commended:

Herne Hill Velodrome and Carnegie Library Hub

Winner:

Friends of Ruskin Park

Community Category – lead judge: Patrick Roberts

Highly Commended:

Off the Cuff Junior Open Mic and Champs Within

Winner:

Herne Hill Music Festival

Judging panel

The panel said:

“It was good to see that so many entries demonstrate innovation, sustainability and ambition and benefit a wide range of people in our community. We were also pleased to be able to reward excellent projects in Herne Hill across both boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark.”