Community Champions Awards

In 2023, the Awards were comprised of 3 key categories: Emerging Talent, Rising Star and High Flyer. Successful awardees were announced at the Community Celebratory Evening on Thursday 3rd August at West Horsley Place. Communities celebrated the range of different actions being taken for nature across the county, including encouraging people to care for natural pollinators, conducting river pollution testing and developing biodiversity action plans alongside local authorities.

• The Emerging Talent Award was presented to an existing community group who are beginning their journey to take action for nature.
• The Rising Star Award was presented to a group who are consistently contributing to nature's recovery while mobilising the local community.
• The High Flyer Award was presented to two thriving groups who are both making a significant impact on connecting nature and engaging local people.

• Given the current climate and biodiversity crises, we recognise that communities play an integral role in the conservation and regeneration of our once-flourishing local green spaces.
• Nationally, The Wildlife Trusts aim to have at least 30% of land and sea connected and protected for nature's recovery in Surrey and across the UK by 2030, while our mission is to get 1 in 4 people to take action for nature.
• We know we can't achieve these goals in isolation: by bringing community groups together, we strive to create a powerful nature network.

• In 2023, winning groups received bespoke Surrey Wildlife Trust plaques which were handcrafted by our in-house Sculptor Sophie Coad: visit Sophie's Instagram page to explore her portfolio of work.
• Winning groups also received tailored advice from Surrey Wildlife Trust to support them to further enhance their thriving projects.
• We created videos of each shortlisted group which we presented at the Community Celebratory Evening: watch each video below to find out more about community groups across Surrey.
• Each nominated group had the opportunity to submit information to receive a free display group community display board. All boards were exhibited at the event to showcase the actions being taken for nature.
• The Awards are a fantastic opportunity to network, share knowledge and celebrate the achievements of community groups across Surrey.

In 2023, we asked community groups to complete nominations that reflected how they've contributed to one or more of our aims: connecting and protecting land for nature's recovery, encouraging others to take action for nature and using sustainable practices.

• Nationally, The Wildlife Trusts aim to have at least 30% of land and sea connected and protected for nature's recovery in Surrey and across the UK by 2030, ensuring our towns, villages, businesses, farms, schools, gardens and all the other elements that make up our living landscape are managed with nature in mind.
• Our mission is to get 1 in 4 people to take action for nature. Research shows that when 25% of people start taking action, we reach a tipping point where real change happens.
• With the current environmental situation, it is important that we consider the impact of our practices to ensure they will not cause an adverse environmental impact.

"Thank you for dreaming up such an excellent way of getting our little group (and all the others too, I suspect) to look up from our inevitably very local focus, and realise we are not alone. Thank you for making us feel like an important cog in a very much larger movement, and for enabling such easy cross-pollination."

Re-Betchworth, winner of the Emerging Talent Award

"External recognition is extremely important and we have already received an excellent response to our award on social media. Awards really seem to motivate volunteers and the wider community which is great for us."

Lingfield Nature Reserves, winner of the High Flyer Award