Celebrate Manchester's local voluntary and community sector in 2026
Spirit of Manchester 2026 Awards Winners
The Spirit of Manchester Awards is a series of awards celebrating and highlighting all the excellent work being carried out in Manchester’s voluntary and community sector. Our Spirit of Manchester Awards Ceremony 2026 was held on Thursday 1st October which celebrated the brilliant work of Manchester's voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.
The shortlist for our Spirit of Manchester Awards 2026 was decided by our judging panel. We would like to thank our judges for volunteering their time to read through the many amazing nominations we received and to make the difficult decisions of selecting just three nominations for each category for our shortlist.
We are excited to announce the winner's for this year’s Spirit of Manchester Awards 2026.
Winners and shortlisted
Community Cohesion (Supported by Flowhesion)
Winner – One Million Mentors
Shortlisted:
- Building Bridges Project / Gerry Flanagan from Caritas Shrewsbury
- Qaisra Shahraz MBE FRSA (MACFEST) Muslim Arts and Culture Festival
- Simran Whitham
Tackling Inequalities (Supported by Manchester City Council: Equity and Engagement Team)
Winner – Equal Education Chances
- Community Thriving Together CIC
- Maggy Moyo
Volunteering Team
Winner – Birthday Stars Project
- MadLab Volunteering Team (WEA)
- The Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian School
Young Volunteer of the Year (Supported by Clyde and Co)
Winner – Demi Murch
Inspiring Campaign (Supported by Manchester City Council)
Winner – Cash for Kids Greater Manchester
- The Dianne Oxberry Trust
- Liz Godfrey, Manchester Mums for Lungs
Creative Community Spirit (Supported by One Manchester)
Winner – Max Trax – Kerrie Rimmer
- 53two
- Silver Screen Community Film Studios
Climate Action Award
Winner – Manchester Urban Diggers CIC
Social Economy Champion (Supported by BAM)
Winner – Manchester Urban Diggers CIC
Partnership and Collaboration (Supported by Manchester Metropolitan University)
Winner – Manchester Central Foodbank, Manchester South Central Foodbank, Burnage Foodbank, Chorlton & Didsbury Foodbank, Fallowfield & Withington Foodbank, Wythenshawe Foodbank
- Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, Clyde & Co LLP, Dechert, Linklaters and Squire Patton Boggs
- Greater Manchester Living Income Campaign
Community and Business Collaboration
Winner – Deloitte (North-West) & FareShare Greater Manchester
- BAM – Victoria North Project
- EMPOWER Youth Zones & BNY
Volunteer Involving Organisation
Winner – Westcroft Community Centre
- EMERGE
- Home-Start Manchester
Service User Involving Organisation
Winner – Home-Start Manchester
- Caritas Salford
- Mahtsen CIC
Trustee/Committee Member of the Year
Winner – Emile Pinel
- Andre Baron
- Sally Carr MBE
Volunteer of the Year (Supported by Wythenshawe Community Housing Group)
Winner – Jeff Seneviratne
- Dave Crowe
- Les Cowell
Special Recognition awarded to Elaine Unegbu
The Dr Sylvia Sham Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Voluntary Sector
Winner – Christie Spurling
Supporters
There are a number of ways you can become a supporter of our Spirit of Manchester Awards and help us celebrate and reward the voluntary and community sector for all their hard work. See more on how to be a supporter.
How do the awards work?
Click here for how the process works, how nominations are handled and how all of this happens.
Spirit of Manchester Awards 2025 Winners and Shortlist
Spirit of Manchester 2025 Awards brochure
Find out about all the amazing organisations and individuals that were shortlisted for the Spirit of Manchester Awards 2025. View our Spirit of Manchester 2025 Awards brochure.
Spirit of Manchester 2025 Review
Please see the link below for a review of the evening Spirit of Manchester Awards 2025 Review
Take a look at the winners from last year’s awards here.