Make a Mayor’s Awards nomination

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Mayor's Awards 2025 to 2026
Nominations for the Mayor's Awards are now open until 5pm on Monday 19 January 2026

How to make a nomination

Follow these steps:

  1. read the nomination guidance before you start
  2. prepare your supporting evidence in advance
  3. complete the online nomination form

If you need a paper copy or Microsoft Word version of the form and guidance, contact the Mayor’s Office.

Nomination guidance

Before you submit a nomination:

  • only one nomination that successfully meets the Mayor’s Awards criteria will be considered for a person, group or organisation in the relevant category
  • multiple nominations for the same person, group or organisation will not be considered
  • nominations submitted after the closing date will not be accepted
  • if you submit a nomination and are under 18, you must include the name and contact details of a parent or guardian who we can contact about the nomination

Mayor's Awards criteria

Mayor’s Awards recognise people, groups and organisations who have made an outstanding contribution to life in Kensington and Chelsea. We are looking for people who have gone above to support others in the borough.

They must live, work or study in the borough, or be an organisation based and operating in the borough.

Who cannot be nominated

You cannot nominate:

  • yourself
  • an elected RBKC councillor
  • a council officer for their work at the council
  • anyone for work related to a political party or organisation
  • anyone to gain political favour or to promote or reward political activity
  • anyone for paid work in the Individual Contribution or Young Achiever categories
  • someone who has passed away
  • an organisation that is no longer active
  • anyone who has already received a Mayor’s Award

Award categories

You must choose one category when completing the nomination form:

Individual Contribution

The Individual Contribution Mayor's Award recognises an individual for outstanding work in the community.

For example, they might lead initiatives to improve mental and physical wellbeing, or champion community safety or culture and heritage in the borough.

The nominee must:

  • be aged over 18, or over 25 if they have a disability or are a care leaver, on or before 19 January 2026
  • volunteer their time to make a meaningful difference to residents in Kensington and Chelsea
  • not be nominated for paid work

  • not have previously won a Mayor’s Award

Young Achiever

The Young Achiever Mayor’s Award recognises an individual or a group of young people working together to make an impact.

For example, they might volunteer at a local care home or raise money for a local charity.

If you are nominating a group of young people, you must provide the group name and contact details for the group's coordinator who is over 18.

The nominee must:

  • be aged under 18, or under 25 if they have a disability or are a care leaver, on or before 19 January 2026
  • volunteer their time to make a real difference to residents in Kensington and Chelsea.
    • this does not include community work done as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award or similar programmes
  • not be nominated for paid work
  • not have previously won a Mayor’s Award

Voluntary and Community Sector Organisation

The Voluntary and Community Sector Organisation Mayor’s Award recognises charities, mutual aid groups, community organisations and voluntary organisations doing incredible work to support local communities.

For example, this could be a voluntary organisation that runs a project to support local people with IT training or a charity that runs an initiative to upcycle goods for re-use in the community.

When nominating, mention the work of the whole organisation, not just one person. You will also need to provide a lead contact for the organisation.

The nominee must:

  • be based in RBKC, or the nomination should focus on the work they do within the borough
  • carry out paid or voluntary work that makes a meaningful difference to residents in Kensington and Chelsea
  • not have previously won a Mayor’s Award, this includes cases where an individual won an award for work connected to the organisation

Supporting evidence

When you complete the nomination form, you will need to:

  • explain why the person or organisation deserves a Mayor's Award
  • provide three to five pieces of supporting evidence from other people, and their contact details

Who can provide supporting evidence

It is useful to hear from a range of people who have interacted with the nominee, such as:

  • service users
  • local residents
  • colleagues
  • trustees of an organisation
  • elected representatives
  • civic leaders
  • community leaders
  • faith leaders 
  • others who have benefited from the nominee’s work in the community

At least two out of the three pieces of supporting evidence should come from a service user, local resident or another person that has directly benefited from the nominee’s work in the community.

Supporter's should:

  • describe why the nominee deserves the award (around 250 words)
  • explain how they know the nominee and for how long

Questions in the nomination form 

The form will ask you:

  1. how you know the nominee (up to 100 words)
  2. what they have done to deserve the award, and how they have gone above and beyond to serve the borough’s residents (up to 700 words)

This is the most important part of the form. It allows the judging panel to understand why the nominee deserves to win a Mayor’s Award.

Focus on who they have helped, the impact of their work, how many people were affected, and over what time period.

What happens after you submit your nomination

Initial selection

  • the Mayor’s Office will check your nomination. If it is incomplete or does not meet the criteria, it will not go to the panel.
  • you will be contacted within 10 working days to confirm whether your nomination has been accepted.
  • if your form has not been accepted, we will indicate that the criteria has not been met or that the nomination form was incomplete. You can resubmit before the closing date of 5pm on Monday 19 January 2026

Panel review

After the deadline, the Mayor’s Awards panel will meet to review nominations. The panel includes:

  • Councillor Tom Bennett, Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 
  • Councillor Elizabeth Campbell, Leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council
  • Councillor Kasim Ali, Leader of the Labour Group at Kensington and Chelsea Council
  • Michael Ashe, CEO of Volunteer Centre Kensington and Chelsea
  • Angela Spence, CEO of Kensington and Chelsea Social Council
  • Noha Chentouf, Youth Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Final decision

The panel will consider all complete and eligible nominations and choose winners for each category.

Everyone who submits a nomination will be notified by email whether it was successful or not. Winners will also receive a separate confirmation within one month after the closing date.

  • the panel’s decision is final and cannot be appealed
  • contacting Mayor's Awards panel members about nominations may result in your nomination being withdrawn
  • the Mayor’s Office can advise on eligibility and form completion, but not on individual nominations or decisions made by the panel

How your nomination information is used

All nominations and the information submitted on the form is treated confidentially and only shared securely with the members of the panel.

While the panel will know the names of nominees, nominators and nomination supporters, all contact information will be redacted.

Only the names of winners will be made public. All other nominations will remain confidential.

Names of Mayor's Award winners, and supporting evidence for nominations may be referred to or briefly quoted in Council publications or communications.

Complete the nomination form

Before you start, make sure that you have:

  • your name and contact details, or a parent or guardian's if you are under 18
  • the nominee's name and contact details
  • the award category you are nominating them for
  • supporting information explaining why this person deserves to win the award
  • names, contact details and supporting evidence from three to five supporters of your nomination

Make a nomination

Further help and advice

If you need the form in a different format or have questions about eligibility, contact the Mayor’s Office:

The Mayor's Office

The Mayor’s Office
Kensington Town Hall
Hornton Street
London
W8 7NX

Last updated: 20 October 2025