Thirty-five charities have been shortlisted for the Guardian Charity Awards 2009, which aim to highlight the achievements of small and medium-sized voluntary groups.
(Sarah Brown at last year’s Guardian Charity Awards. Photograph: Linda Nylind/Guardian)
Six winners will be chosen from the shortlist by a panel of judges including Sarah Brown, Jane Asher and Dame Suzi Leather. The winners will be announced in December.
The awards, now in their 17th year, are open to registered charities with an annual income of less than £1m. Recent research by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has suggested that medium-sized charities are those most at risk from the recession and the coming public spending squeeze.
There were 489 valid entries for the awards this year. Winners will each receive £1,000, a new PC provided by Jigsaw Systems, advice from NCVO’s consultancy service and a package of media services from the Media Trust.
David Brindle, chair of the judging panel, said: “Yet again we have been overwhelmed by the number and quality of entries for the Guardian charity awards. To select just six winners will be a hugely difficult task.”
The judges are: Jane Asher, president of the National Autistic Society; Lynne Berry, chief executive of WRVS; David Brindle, public services editor of the Guardian; Sarah Brown, president of PiggyBankKids; Caroline Diehl, chief executive of the Media Trust; Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO; Dame Suzi Leather, chair of the Charity Commission; and Lady Howarth, chair and president of Liveability.
The Shortlist in Full
58i, Nottingham runs community projects in the UK serving the homeless, those battling drug and alcohol addiction, young people, families, those in debt and women involved in street prostitution, as well as an innovative international development project in northern Ghana.
Aik Saath – Together As One, Slough, Berkshire, was established in response to gang violence between young people from Asian backgrounds in Slough and trains young people in conflict resolution and anti-racism skills in a variety of settings, including schools and youth centres.
The Anchor Project, London, works with London-based unaccompanied asylum-seeking children aged 10 to 17, providing a safe space in which they can develop confidence and self-esteem, and make friends.
Arts Care, Belfast, works across health and social care trusts in Northern Ireland, bringing visual art, dance, music and creative writing to people in hospitals or healthcare settings.
The Douglas Bader Foundation, Hertfordshire, seeks to advance and promote the physical, mental and spiritual welfare of people who are without one or more limbs, or otherwise physically disabled, using the personal achievements and fighting spirit of its namesake as an inspiration.
Bonny Downs Community Association, East Ham, London, works to promote wellbeing and healthy living, especially among elderly people and their carers, and among children, young people and their families.
Caithness Deaf Care works with hard-of-hearing and profoundly deaf people and those with visual impairment and dual impairment of sight and hearing loss in north Scotland.
clouddog, London, works with economically underprivileged inner-city students, helping them to get into the world of conservation, wildlife and environment care, and aiming to help them develop self-esteem, focus and direction.
The Comfrey Project, Newcastle upon Tyne, works with around 80 project users on three allotment sites across Tyneside, with the aim of promoting health and wellbeing among refugees and asylum seekers.
Community Action Malvern & District, Worcestershire, provides a community minibus service to help the elderly, housebound and those with impaired mobility to travel to social and medical appointments.
Cowpen Quay Community Association, Northumberland, aims to provide social, recreational and educational activities for the residents of the deprived Croft ward and Cowpen Quay areas of Blyth.
The Laura Crane Trust, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, a youth cancer charity, funds medical research – specifically into cancer in 13- to 24-year-olds – and supports the 23 UK hospitals admitting youth cancer patients.
Daventry Information and Counselling Service operating as Time2Talk, Daventry, Northamptonshire, aims to promote the physical and emotional welfare of young people aged 13-25 in Northamptonshire.
Edinburgh Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, Scotland, provides a support and advocacy service for women, girls and transgender people aged 12 years and over who have experienced sexual violence.
Faith and Football (part of the Abijah Trust), Portsmouth, Hampshire, organises and runs community youth football programmes in deprived inner-city areas of Portsmouth, Birmingham and Plymouth for disadvantaged young people aged seven to 13.
Gairloch & Loch Ewe Action Forum, Wester Ross, Scotland, which aims to improve the environment, social life and economy of the Gairloch and Loch Ewe area of Wester Ross in the Highlands of Scotland.
Get Connected Helpline, London, is a free helpline for children and young people up to the age of 25 who know they want help, but don’t know where to find it.
Home-Start Causeway, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, encourages community support of vulnerable young families through volunteering by parents of all ages and backgrounds.
Home-Start Rochdale borough, Lancashire, works towards the increased confidence and independence of the family by offering friendship, emotional support and practical assistance.
Hope Against Cancer, Leicester, aims to promote and research the causes, property, biology, detection, prevention and treatment of cancer and to publish and disseminate the results.
Hoxton Hall, London, has been serving the community since 1863, providing entertainment and education for local people. In December 2004, it became the only youth arts centre in Hackney.
InterAct Reading Service, London, provides a live one-to-one reading service to people who have had a stroke.
Kidscape, London, works to improve children’s safety, developing common-sense approaches to teaching children how to navigate their world.
Konnect9, Leicester, redistributes new, surplus goods that are about to be landfilled – free of charge – from UK businesses to marginalised people in the UK and around the world.
Maytree Respite Centre, London is a sanctuary for people in suicidal crisis that offers a one-off, four-night stay in a homely, non-medical setting with plenty of time to talk and be heard, without judgment, in a safe place.
NeuroMusuclar Centre, West Winsford, Cheshire, provides services for people with muscular dystrophy, a progressive muscle-wasting disease affecting more than 60,000 people nationally.
One North East London (1ne), Woodford Green, Essex, aims to reduce the harm caused by addiction within families by providing a full-time abstinence-based programme for addicts based on group therapy and individual counselling.
Positively Women, London, is the only national charity for women and families living with HIV in the UK. The organisation provides practical and emotional support, enables women to make informed decisions about health and personal matters and challenges stigma and discrimination.
Read International, London, aims to advance the education of young people in Africa, particularly Tanzania, by providing books and other teaching materials, and also to educate young people in the UK about poverty in Africa.
Shannon Trust, London, aims to engage every non-reading prisoner early in their sentence, support prison staff to run a reading plan in every prison and young offenders’ institution in the UK, and promote the benefits of peer-mentoring in prisons.
The Shine Project, Bournemouth, Dorset, works with some of the most deprived young women in the country, helping them to break the cycle of poverty, achieve their potential, make informed choices and value themselves and those around them.
Spadework, West Malling, Kent, provides training in horticulture, gardening, woodwork, computers, catering, retail and life skills for adults with learning difficulties aged 18 to 65.
Spitalfields City Farm, London, is a volunteer-led organisation that promotes a holistic approach to food, environmental and animal issues.
Voluntary Arts England, Newcastle upon Tyne, promotes participation in the arts and crafts by supporting the development of the voluntary arts sector.
Wirral Community Narrowboat Trust, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, offers day trips, short breaks and week-long holidays to mainly disadvantaged people on two specially adapted narrowboats, manned by volunteers.
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