The Christmas Challenge 2017 Awards Shortlist

We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Christmas Challenge 2017 Awards!

The Christmas Challenge Awards aim to recognise and reward the campaign’s most successful participating charities. We want to celebrate those charities that not only exceeded their fundraising target but ran inspiring campaigns which engaged their supporters and act as leading examples for others.

This year, we have £15,000 to award to charities across the following 12 categories: 1st, 2nd and 3rd place overall; UK; international; small; newcomer; children; supporter engagement; creative marketing; raising profile; biggest impact.

The Criteria

We were overwhelmed to receive more than 100 inspirational applications, which were reviewed by a panel of judges overseen by Sir Alec Reed CBE, founder of the Big Give. Charities were judged on:

How much they exceeded their Christmas Challenge fundraising target: the more charities raised above their target, the more chance they have of winning an award.
How they engaged with their supporters in the campaign: we were looking for examples of great planning, execution and learning to be used as a showcase for other charities.
Creative marketing approaches: did the charity market the Christmas Challenge in a new, different or innovative way?

The Shortlist

The quality of applications received was extremely high – a testament to the hard work of participating charities which together raised a record breaking £11.3 million through the Christmas Challenge 2017. Narrowing down a shortlist wasn’t easy, but we are pleased to share the final list below.

Aurora Orchestra
Action for M.E.
Afghan Connection
Alternatives Trust East London
Amref
British Red Cross
Chailey Heritage Foundation
Chickenshed
East African Playgrounds
Forever Hounds Trust
Friends of Ibba Girls School, South Sudan
Junction 42
Museums Sheffield
North London Cares
Pestalozzi International Village Trust
Royal Holloway, University of London
Send a Cow
Somerset Wildlife Trust
South London Cares
The Family Trust
The Listening Place
The Passage
Theatre Royal Wakefield
Wild Futures

Thank you to all the charities that applied and congratulations to those who made the shortlist! We will be announcing the winners on Friday 16th February and sharing some of their success stories as a showcase of best practice for others.