The Spirit of Manchester Awards are a celebration of voluntary and community action in Manchester organised by Manchester Community Central as the support organisation for the 3000+ groups in the city. So it works in a way which is shaped by our values: being supportive, being collaborative and being influential.
Timeline for 2026
- March: Nomination form opens 2nd March 2026
- May: Nomination form closes at 12pm on 5th May 2026
- June: The panel of judges meet to decide who the shortlist will be and who the winner of the 'Dr Sylvia Sham Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Voluntary Sector', 'Climate Action' and the 'Young Volunteer of the Year Award' will be
- June: Our Spirit of Manchester team get to work informing those that have made the shortlist and explain the next steps. Due to the volume of nominations received, we are unable to reach out to nominations who haven't been shortlisted.
- June: We announce the winner of the 'Young Volunteer of the Year Award' for Volunteers' Week (1st - 7th June)
- June: We announce the full shortlist on our website, e-bulletins and social media platforms
- June/August/September: We get to work finding supporters for the award categories and donations to help support our raffle and auction that take place on the night of the awards
- June/August/September: We and the shortlist start work on creating 1 minute videos to be shown on the night of the awards
- August/September: Ticket sales open for additional ticket purchases for the night of the awards
- October: Awards ceremony held on Thursday 1st October, 7pm - 10:30pm
How the Spirit of Manchester Awards usually work
Although Manchester Community Central may host the awards, none of the decisions on winners or the shortlist are made by us. We host the celebration, but let you decide the winner!
We open nominations at the start of March. This is an open call for anyone to nominate an organisation, partnership or individual that you believe has made a difference in the city of Manchester and helps to make the voluntary sector brilliant - whether this is through volunteer work, campaigning, innovation and much more. There are 15 categories to choose from and nominations are unlimited - feel free to submit as many as you'd like!
Our judges meet as a team, chaired by Jez Myers, to determine the 3 shortlisted individuals/organisations for each category (excluding the 'Young Volunteer of the Year', 'Climate Action' and 'Dr Sylvia Sham Award' where an outright winner is chosen). Our judges read through every single nomination that you have made to choose the finalists.
Once decided by the judges, we announce the shortlist to the public. The finalists, and winners, are asked to produce a 1 minute video to be shown on the night of the awards ceremony explaining how they meet the criteria. Support from Manchester Community Central staff members to create or edit the video is available. The video can then be used by the organisation for future promotion and is also uploaded to Manchester Community Central's YouTube channel after the awards have taken place. Please note: All shortlisted nominations and winners are required to produce, or work with Manchester Community Central's Media and Marketing team, to provide a 1 minute film to be shown on the night of the awards.
What happens on the night?
Every shortlisted individual or organisation receives 2 free tickets to attend the awards ceremony. This includes access to the venue, as well as a hot and cold buffet, and soft drinks. Additional tickets are available to purchase on a first come, first served basis prior to the evening. This will be announced via our website, ebulletins and social media.
For those that either are unable to make the evening, or would like to watch at home, we livestream the event via YouTube to allow everyone to be a part of the night!
Attendees will arrive from 6pm on the evening to help themselves to the range of food on offer, before the evening starts at 7pm. The awards are hosted by Manchester Community Central's Chief Executive, Mike Wild. There will be a short interval mid-way through the awards announcements and the auction is held just before the break. The raffle announcements are held at the end of the event. All money raised on the night goes towards our Spirit of Manchester Fund, supporting local, grassroots organisations with mini-grants to provide their important services.
Each of the categories will be announced in the order of the brochure, when the 3 videos will be shown for each category. Once these have been shown, the audience, both at home and in person, get the chance to vote for their winner. This will be explained further on the night and brochures will be found on the tables/uploaded to our website. The 3 organisations/individuals come on stage to receive their certificate and have their photo taken before the winner is announced and given their trophy.
We live-post the winners across our social media - be sure to use the hashtag #SpiritOfMcr26 to keep up to date with what's going on through out the year, and on the night!
Virtually everything about our awards event is borrowed or donated: it varies from year to year but the key thing is we want it to be characterised by collaboration and participation as those are the kind of things we like about the voluntary sector at its best! If you would like to help with the cost of running the event, or supporting one of our awards, please click here.
But that's just the process. To get an idea of what it's really like on the night, have a look at the livestream for the Spirit of Manchester 2025.