The King’s Award for Voluntary Service (KAVS)

The King’s Award for Voluntary Service (previously known as The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service) is to recognise outstanding achievement by groups which volunteer their own time to enhance and improve the quality of life and opportunity of others in their local communities. 

The Award was originally created in 2002 to celebrate the anniversary of The Queen’s coronation. It is likened to the MBE for volunteer groups.

Who is eligible for the Award?

• Any group doing volunteer work that provides a social, economic or environmental service to the local community is eligible for the award. Each group is assessed on the benefit it brings to the local community and its standing within that community.
• A group must be made up of two or more people and must provide a specific benefit in a local area. 
• The group can be a branch of, or affiliated to, a larger regional or national organisation, provided it can be shown that the work of this particular branch stands out from others, for its activity and initiatives.
• Groups must have been operating at a high standard for at least 3 years.
• More than half the people who work in the group must be volunteers.

How to Make a Nomination

Information on how to nominate a group can be found at https://www.kavs/dcms.gov.uk

A few tips:

• Please note you cannot nominate a group if you are on its staff of or volunteer for it.  You need to find someone slightly detached from the group to make the nomination.
• The Lord-Lieutenant is keen to encourage nominations for as many groups as possible and are happy to help and advise those who wish to nominate a group. 
• You can send in nominations at any time, but if you want to get a nomination in for next year, you must complete it and send it in by September this year.
• Try to show why this group stands out from others similar to it.
• You must show that the group is led by volunteers and that they are key to the group’s success.
• Letters of support are a really important part of the application and, ideally, should be from people who have directly benefitted from the organisation as well as those who can see the benefit of its work.
• Unlike with an individual honour nomination, there is no need to keep the nomination secret, so you can ask those involved for all the details you need.

What happens after the nomination?

• Following the closure date for nominations in September each year, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) will collate them all and then sent them to the Lieutenancies for assessment.
• The Lieutenancy will visit those groups nominated for the Award, assess them and complete a report to send to the Independent Committee that consider them all.
• The Chairman of Cornwall Council normally hosts an annual event in County Hall, attended by the Lord-Lieutenant, to congratulate the groups who have been nominated. 
• Following the decisions of the Independent Committee, winners and unsuccessful groups will be told prior to the official announcement of the results, which takes place annually on 14th November, the King’s birthday.
• KAVS Winners receive a certificate signed by the King and a glass crystal which can be displayed at the group’s main meeting place. The crystal awards are presented by the Lord-Lieutenant representing His Majesty at a special ceremony. Representatives from the group may then also be invited to attend a royal garden party.