The Awards

We are delighted to share the shortlist for the first year of the Christmas Challenge Awards. The Awards have been launched to recognise the most successful charities in our annual match funding campaign. Charity applications were judged by a panel headed up by Sir Alec Reed CBE (founder of the Big Give) and the shortlists are now ready to be announced. The calibre of entries was incredibly high and selecting the winners has been a difficult process.

Awards have been allocated across 11 different categories: 1st prize, 2nd prize, 3rd prize, small charity (under £1 million annual income), newcomer, UK project, international project, children’s project (sponsored by The Childhood Trust), arts & culture; best supporter engagement and best creative marketing.

The Criteria

Charities were all judged against the following criteria:

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

The Shortlist

Thank you to all the charities that applied and huge congratulations to the following shortlisted charities. The 11 winners will be announced on 13th February.

• acet UK
• Association for Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Disorders (AMEND)
• Brendoncare Clubs
• Cheltenham Festivals Ltd
• Clean Break
• Irise International
• Livability
• North London Cares
• Project Harar
• RADA
• Royal Holloway, University of London
• Self Help Africa
• Send a Cow
• South London Cares
• Sport 4 Life UK
• The Adnan Jaffery Educational Trust
• The Lullaby Trust
• The Lutyens Trust
• The Passage
• The Reader
• Venture Community Association