Bristol Social Impact Awards
2026
Welcome to the Bristol Social Impact Awards
The Bristol Social Impact Awards are a celebration of the incredible work happening across Bristol and the West of England’s VCSE sector – hosted by Voscur.
Supported by our generous sponsors, these awards bring together organisations from across the area that strive to make Bristol a fantastic place to live, work, and volunteer.
It is a dedicated space to honour local dedication, meet inspiring people and celebrate the profound positive impact of the VCSE sector in our communities.
10 Categories, thousands of incredible organisations…
The Batook Pandya Award for Inclusion
This award, in memory of Batook Pandya MBE, founder of SARI (Stand Against Racism & Inequality), is for a social purpose organisation that recognises, promotes, and celebrates inclusion.
The Volunteer of the Year Award
This award is for an individual who has made a notable difference through their volunteer work in the community, making an inspirational contribution to the VCSE sector.
The Equity and Diversity Award
This award is for an organisation in the VCSE sector that has embedded equitable approaches throughout its strategy and delivery to achieve better diversity.
The Inspirational Community Leader Award
This award is for an individual who has made a difference in the community and/or the whole city through volunteering, campaigning, or leading others to make a difference to our community life in Bristol.
The Partnership Award
This award recognises excellence in partnership working and celebrates collaborative leadership from social purpose organisations in the sector.
The Environmental Award
In response to the global climate emergency, this award is for a social purpose organisation that has either taken actions to contribute to the target of a carbon neutral Bristol by 2030 or supported collective climate action in their community or citywide.
The Team of the Year Award
This award celebrates a team in a VCSE sector organisation that works exceptionally well together, for the benefit of the people and communities they aim to help.
The Bristol Innovation Award
This award recognises and celebrates social purpose organisations leading innovative new approaches to tackling poverty and inequality in our city.
The Cost-of-Living Crisis Response Award
This award recognises an organisation that has taken unprecedented action to build and strengthen their resilience, showing adaptability, and allowing them to respond to the challenges of the Cost-of–Living Crisis.
The Lorraine Bush Award for Resilience
This award, in memory of Lorraine Bush, a key member of the team who set up Hawkspring, is for an organisation that has demonstrated inspiring resilience.
This award, in memory of Batook Pandya MBE, founder of SARI (Stand Against Racism & Inequality), is for a social purpose organisation that recognises, promotes, and celebrates inclusion.
This award is for an individual who has made a notable difference through their volunteer work in the community, making an inspirational contribution to the VCSE sector.
This award is for an organisation in the VCSE sector that has embedded equitable approaches throughout its strategy and delivery to achieve better diversity.
This award is for an individual who has made a difference in the community and/or the whole city through volunteering, campaigning, or leading others to make a difference to our community life in Bristol.
This award recognises excellence in partnership working and celebrates collaborative leadership from social purpose organisations in the sector.
In response to the global climate emergency, this award is for a social purpose organisation that has either taken actions to contribute to the target of a carbon neutral Bristol by 2030 or supported collective climate action in their community or citywide.
This award celebrates a team in a VCSE sector organisation that works exceptionally well together, for the benefit of the people and communities they aim to help.
This award recognises and celebrates social purpose organisations leading innovative new approaches to tackling poverty and inequality in our city.
This award recognises an organisation that has taken unprecedented action to build and strengthen their resilience, showing adaptability, and allowing them to respond to the challenges of the Cost-of-Living Crisis.
This award, in memory of Lorraine Bush, a key member of the team who set up Hawkspring, is for an organisation that has demonstrated inspiring resilience.
Could your organisation be one of our winners?
How it works
1. Submit nominations for any of the ten awards via an online form.
2. Once nominations close on Friday 31st July at 11pm, a panel of 3-4 judges will review all nominations for each award and will give each nominee a score*. Judges may be leaders or CEOs in the local VCSE sector, award sponsors, and those with personal links to the legacy awards.
*Please note this score is based on the overall impact of the nominee’s work in the VCSE sector as described, and how well it fits with the award description – not the number of individual nominations. In short, a strong single nomination written with feeling is better than a hundred hastily-submitted nominations!
3. The top 3 scoring nominees in each category will be invited to attend the awards ceremony on the evening of Thursday 12th November 2026.
4. At the awards ceremony, the highest scoring nominee for each award will be revealed as the winner. Winners each receive a trophy, and all shortlisted nominees receive a certificate.
The people who make it all possible…
Our sponsors
A heartfelt thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making the Bristol Social Impact Awards possible; your commitment to celebrating Bristol’s VCSE sector shines a light on the people and projects making Bristol, and nearby areas, a better place for everyone.
Moon Executive Search
Aide CRM
University of West of England
Rise HR
Want to get involved?
Contact us for sponsorship package details
We are also thrilled to be hosting a raffle on the day, we would welcome and be extremely grateful for contributions by means of prizes!
Contact us to discuss raffle contributions
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