The Volunteer Awards 2026
The Volunteer Awards are officially open - this is your chance to say a great big thank you to our incredible volunteers. We wouldn’t be here today and certainly wouldn’t be able to do what we do without their hard work, so this year we really want to celebrate all of their contributions at our first-ever in-person awards ceremony!
Forget The Oscars or The Baftas –The Volunteer Awards are going to be taking the spotlight this year with all the glitz and glam of a Hollywood ceremony.
What are the categories?
Journey Through Volunteering Award
This award recognises a person who uses a PSS service and has embraced volunteering as part of their journey. Through their commitment, they've shown courage, built confidence, developed new skills, and made a positive difference to others while continuing on their own journey.
Rising Star Award
For a volunteer who has made an outstanding impact in a short period of time. They've embraced their role with enthusiasm, shown commitment from day one, and are already making a real difference.
Star of the Year Award
Our Star of the Year Award is for a volunteer who has gone above and beyond, making an exceptional difference to the people we support, the service they volunteer in, or PSS as a whole. Someone who consistently gives their time, energy, and compassion to create positive change and inspire others.
Behind the Scenes Hero Award
For a volunteer whose dedication often goes unnoticed, but whose contributions are invaluable. They quietly keep things running smoothly, supporting others and making sure services can thrive.
Volunteers' Choice Award
Chosen by volunteers, for volunteers. This award recognises a volunteer who has made a lasting impression on their fellow volunteers through their kindness, encouragement, teamwork, and willingness to support others. This is for the person our volunteers really want to celebrate.
PSS Appreciation Award
Chosen by our PSS teammates, this award celebrates a volunteer who has made an exceptional contribution to our PSS teammates and the service they volunteer in. They are reliable, collaborative, and make a genuine difference through their commitment and positive attitude.
Living the Values Award
This is the award for that person who’s big-hearted, determined, genuine, professional and open-minded through and through. It will be given to someone who's an amazing example of what it means to volunteer here at PSS.
Who can make a nomination?
Anyone can nominate a PSS volunteer. You might be:
- Someone who is supported by PSS/Shared Lives
- Someone whose family member is supported by PSS/Shared Lives
- A fellow volunteer
- A member of the PSS team
- One of our partners
How do I nominate a volunteer?
Volunteers can be nominated for an award whether they’ve been here for a short time or a long time. We’re looking at the difference they’ve made, not the time they’ve been here.
Who decides the winners?
The winners will be decided by lots of different panels made up of PSS teammates, PSS trustees, our volunteer coordinator and people we support.
When will the nominations close?
Nominations will close on Friday 2 October at 5pm.
When will the winners be announced?
The winners will be announced at our in-person awards ceremony on Wednesday, 25th November from 12.30pm to 3.30pm (awards will start at 1.30pm) at our PSS HQ in Liverpool. We'll be emailing out invites on Friday 4 September. If you’d like to come along, please let Abi know by Friday 4 November.
If you’re not able to join us, you can tune into our live stream.
How to nominate
You’ll need to tell us who you’re nominating and which PSS service they’re part of (e.g., Shared Lives, Wellbeing Centres, etc.), which award you want to nominate them in and why.
Remember, some of our judges might not have met this volunteer before, so the more detail and evidence you can give them, the better.
(Important: If your nomination is the winning nomination, you’ll be asked to record your nomination on camera to be shown at the awards ceremony.)
The rules for nominating
You can nominate as many people in each category as you like, but please separate each person into their own nomination, for example, it’s best to steer clear of saying, ‘I’m nominating Julie and Sarah from the Wellbeing Centres’, please do two separate nominations, one for each person you want to nominate.
Need a bit of support making your nomination?
If you’re having any trouble making your nomination, get in touch with someone in the team you’re volunteering for, and they’ll be happy to help!
Other news
Volunteering at PSS
We were founded by volunteers back in 1919 and we're proud to still have a thriving volunteer base today.
About PSS
Learn all about PSS, who we are, where we came from and all the other exciting bits.
How we can support you
We've got a wide range of ways we support people to live their life beyond limits. Looking to take the next step?