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NCT Stars Awards 2010

As a charity, we support over one million mums and dads every year. We can only do this due to the dedication, skill and passion of our volunteer and specialist workers. From delivering newsletters to running helplines, everything you do makes a difference to parents in the UK – and we want to say thank you!

Nominations are now open for NCT Stars Awards 2010, where we recognise the fantastic support you provide. With six categories for volunteers and three for specialist workers, make the most of your opportunity to recognise the Stars who help to make NCT the incredible charity it is. The Awards will be presented at NCT’s Big Weekend in Telford.

The Star categories are:

Volunteers:

  • Activist of the Year
  • Bumps & Babies Group of the Year
  • Communication of the Year
  • Fundraising Success of the Year – large branch
  • Fundraising Success of the Year – small branch
  • Most Supportive Volunteer

Specialist Workers:

  • Specialist Workers Working Together
  • Reaching All Parents
  • Most Supportive Specialist Worker

If there’s an individual star or team in your branch who deserves an award nominate them now! Please click on the link (add link) to get to the online nomination form.

In addition, we will continue to award long service certificates to specialist workers who have completed 10, 15 or 20 years’ service (or more by 5 year increments) with the charity. We also have some records of similar periods of dedication by branch/regional volunteers but would be pleased to receive more information from branches about individuals they know, so we can include them too. Please e-mail details to Branch Support.

Nominate your Stars now!

Every day there are thousands of dedicated people working to offer NCT services and support to parents-to-be and new parents in the name of the NCT. They give so much – and we would like to recognise and celebrate these achievements (in the period covering January 2009 to March 2010) with the winners and other members, specialist workers and volunteers at NCT’s Big Weekend in Telford on Saturday 15th May 2010. Nominate your Stars today!

Award Categories 2010

For Specialist Workers

Specialist Workers Working Together

This award recognises the good work of a group of specialist workers across the 3 specialisms who are communicating well and working together to provide an excellent service to new parents.

Reaching All Parents

This award recognises the efforts of an individual specialist worker who is pushing the boundaries of her role within the NCT to reach a group of new parents in her area who have not previously been supported by the NCT

Most Supportive Specialist Worker

This award will go to the specialist worker who has given her time and energy to support another specialist worker/s beyond the remits of her role within the NCT.  

        For Volunteers

        Activist of the Year

          This award is for an outstanding member of NCT Active. Activism about the things that matter to the NCT and parents shows that the NCT want to make a difference – to improve maternity services, to highlight national breastfeeding week or publicise local facilities that welcome breastfeeding or to save a midwife led unit or health visiting services for new parents.  Is your MSLC representative outstanding, do you have a campaigning champion in your area or did you set up a team to respond to reconfiguration plans? Tell us about your successes and how you gained support for your campaign from your branch members and the public

          Bumps & Babies Group of the Year

            Bumps and Babies, whether held in a community hall or hosted by a branch volunteer, are the bedrock of NCT’s local support for parents. B & B groups help parents-to-be and new parents make friends and gain confidence at such an important time of their lives. You can nominate a group that has just opened, one that has been going for years, one that has reached out to non-traditional NCT groups, perhaps working in partnership with a Children’s Centre, or an individual open house host who has welcomed parents on behalf of the NCT in your area. The group will be an excellent example of your branch as the local FACE of the NCT – fun, accessible, caring and encouraging!

            Communication of the Year

              In the 21st Century, communication can be so creative – are you proud of your branch newsletter, publicity flyer or under 5’s guide? Have you placed press releases successfully with your local papers or radio/TV station and gained great publicity for your branch? Do you have a supportive and effective branch e-group or facebook pages? Have you used text alerts for events? How have you developed your web pages on www.nct.org.uk? Tell us – so we can congratulate you!

              Fundraising Success of the Year

              The NCT relies on fundraising to help reach over 1,000,000 parents a year, for example through the pregnancy and birthline and breastfeeding help lines and providing free evidence based information on the website and in Bumps magazine. Fundraising also pays for training new specialist workers who will work with parents in the future. Without the hard work of nearly new sale and fundraising teams, and their imagination in finding new and more effective ways of making money, we would not be able to flourish and grow.

              There are two categories here – for small branches with up to 100 members and for branches with 100 or more members. So tell us your success stories about NCT Nearly New Sales, pregnancy and baby fairs, pamper evenings, balls, commercial sponsorship, grant applications. For your nomination to be considered, you need to tell us:

              • how much you raised
              • how the event or activity helped you to increase awareness of the NCT,
              • how you used the money to help parents locally and/or how much you shared so that UK wide projects and services could continue.

              Most Supportive or Innovative Volunteer

              This award is for the volunteer who has given time and energy to support parents or other volunteers, going that “extra mile” with a friendly face or word of welcome. Or perhaps you have a volunteer who has come up with an idea for new ways of support – a dad setting up a new groups for dads, for example. Or has your branch team been rebuilt by a volunteer who has inspired and encouraged others to volunteer and keep support for parents going? Tell us about the qualities that this volunteer has brought to their support or why the innovation has made such a difference.