Cardiff Volunteer Awards 2024
The Cardiff Volunteer Awards is C3SC’s annual awards ceremony held to recognise the fantastic contributions and achievements of volunteers, community groups and organisations for their efforts in going above and beyond to support everyone in our local communities. Now in its sixth year, the Cardiff Volunteer Awards has gone from strength to strength, receiving over 100 nominations – beating last year’s record. We are thankful to our local communities for choosing to recognise individuals and groups, new and existing, who make a difference every day while sacrificing a moment of their time.
This year’s awards ceremony took place in a hybrid format at The Glanfa Hall at the Wales Millennium Centre and Online via Zoom on Monday 11 November 2024 from 3:30pm-6:30pm.
Categories
The awards categories for this year’s #CVA2024 are:
- Volunteer of the Year (Over 25 years of age) – awarded to a volunteer in this age category who has made a significant impact in their community through volunteering
- Young Volunteer of the Year (25 years and under) –for a volunteer in this age category who has made a notable difference in their community through volunteering
- Volunteer Group of the Year – Any group of 3 or more volunteers that work together; this could be a not-for-profit group whether constituted or non-constituted, a registered charity, or a social enterprise.
- Volunteer Coordinator of the Year –A person who supports others to volunteer or coordinates volunteering activities – including volunteer managers, coordinators or someone who leads a voluntary team, group, or organisation.
- Trustee of the Year – a trustee or member of a management committee who has supported their group to achieve positive outcomes through positive leadership and teamwork
- Outstanding Community Volunteer – An individual who has made a significant contribution to a local community or cause – for example, through long-service, or overcoming barriers, or involvement in an impactful activity or project – and has made a notable positive difference in our communities through volunteering.
- Inclusive Business of the Year –A third, public or private sector organisation which has developed inclusive, ethical, and sustainable working practices – through promoting volunteering, employee-led initiatives, Employer Supported Volunteering, inclusive partnership working, fair investment and/or pro-bono work.
The following categories are not open for public vote. Winners are selected from the volunteering-wales.net portal and will be announced at the Awards ceremony:
- VW Most Active Volunteer
- VW Most Active Provider
The final category is decided based on the impact youth grant projects made on communities working with particular target groups and priority target areas. The winner of this category is selected from the 2023-24 projects.
- Youth Led Grant Project of the Year
Category winners were announced live at the awards ceremony on 11 November 2024 – Scroll down to see who won!
Award Winners
Gail Smith
Trustee of the Year
Serving as Chair of Trustees at Recovery Cymru, Gail has been described as outstanding, having a massive impact on its peer staff, organisational development and most vitally, its members. Through a period of significant personal challenges, Gail has been a champion, ally and critical friend, always displaying the ethos of Recovery Cymru and brings with her a long work history of working with disadvantaged and marginalised people, including homelessness and people with addictions.
Abdalla Abdalla
Volunteering-Wales Most Active Volunteer
As an admin assistant volunteer for C3SC, Abdalla has logged more than 150 hours on Volunteering Wales since the CVAs 2023. In his role, he supports with payment reports and expense claims for staff and volunteers alike, as well as supporting C3SC events like the AGM and the Cardiff Volunteer Awards itself.
WoW Hair and Beauty Bar
Inclusive Business of the Year
At this hair and beauty salon, inclusivity and acceptance sits at the heart of everything they do. WoW Hair and Beauty Bar have gone above and beyond to create a safe and welcoming place for diverse communities to find some peace within themselves as they receive their beauty treatments. This has had a positive effect on people’s self-esteem, confidence, pride and general sense of belonging in South Wales, making WoW Hair and Beauty Bar Inclusive Business of the Year!
Make a Smile Cardiff
Youth Led Grant Project of the Year
Since beginning their project in July 2017, Make a Smile Cardiff has gone from strength to strength to support young children during difficult times through having volunteers dress up as characters to bring a smile to their faces. In the process, they have gained community partners such as working in collaboration with playgroup charity Cwtch Together to offer socialising opportunities for neurodiverse children who may struggle to make friends. Through C3SC’s Cardiff Youth Led Grant, the group have also worked to expand the diversity of characters that they offer.
Maritza Ijeoma Martin
Volunteer of the Year (Over 25 years of age)
Maritza stood out as Volunteer of the Year due to her unwavering dedication to volunteering, positively impacting more than 100 people. Maritza has contributed to wide range of initiatives at the African Community Centre (ACC), Race Council Wales as well as playing a key role in the Clean Green Cardiff Street Project. Alongside this, her most significant achievement was founding the African Food Bank in Cardiff with no initial funding or grant. Despite these challenges, Maritza’s initiative succeeded in providing essential food supplies to up to 40 families during its first effort.
Molly Fenton
Young Volunteer of the Year (25 and under)
Molly has been campaigning since the age of 13 for free period products in schools across Wales. Subsequently, Molly began the Love Your Period campaign as an education hub for young women and people back in 2019. She proactively speaks out about girls’ rights and the health issues that are affecting women, using her own story to also campaign and make a difference in the community.
Susan Evans
Outstanding Community Volunteer
Susan has been volunteering for Sight Life since 2006, taking on multiple roles over the years as a befriender, group facilitator, information giver and fundraiser to name a few. With lived experience of sight loss, Susan is often the first person new members will meet, giving them the reassurance they need when facing the challenges that come with sight loss. In addition, she also challenges stereotypes of sight loss, encouraging others to achieve their goals and live independently, demonstrating there is life after sight loss.
Tenovus Cancer Care
Volunteering-Wales Most Active Provider
Areatha Comanescu
Volunteer Coordinator of the Year
Areatha first joined The Birth Partner Project as a volunteer birth partner in January 2023 before becoming a Volunteer Coordinator after her commitment was recognised. Areatha has given her time generously to support multiple women during the most vulnerable and important stage of their life, putting together multiple volunteer birth teams to support Mamas as well as making sure they are trained to understand trauma-informed practice, safeguarding, and culturally appropriate care.
Splott Community Volunteers
Volunteer Group of the Year
Community-led charity Splott Community Volunteers provides vital services for those in food, fuel and social poverty. In the last year, volunteers logged more than 2,700 hours of volunteering at Breakfast Club and other fundraising events. In addition, they have worked in partnership with Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Greggs, Cooperative, Fareshare, Cardiff Foodbank and Pengam Community Allotments to redistribute over 18 tonnes of food, and are working with many other local organisations to deliver on various projects to serve the needs of the community.
Cardiff Volunteer Awards 2024 Showreel
Gallery
FAQs
Who is eligible to be nominated?
We welcome nominations from individuals and groups in Cardiff. Nominees must either live in Cardiff or undertake their volunteering work in Cardiff. The groups nominated must be based in Cardiff or work in Cardiff. Permission must be sought from the person or group nominated.
Please note that individuals cannot nominate themselves.
Can I nominate more than once?
Yes! You can nominate more than one individual or group at a time. Please submit a new form for each application and make sure each individual or group are aware of the nomination. This also includes nominating the same individual or group for different categories. E.g. The same individual nominated in two categories will be treated as two nominations.
I want to nominate but don’t know how. Can you help?
Once the nomination rounds are open, we will look to arrange some information sessions on how to make your nomination.
However if you prefer, the Team @C3SC would be more than happy to assist you with the nomination form, and any access requirements you may have. Please get in touch with the Cardiff Volunteer Centre team at volunteer@c3sc.org.uk.
I made a mistake on the nomination form I submitted. What shall I do?
If you have submitted a nomination form but feel that you have made a mistake, please get in touch with us as soon as possible to make the necessary changes. Contact us at volunteer@c3sc.org.uk with your name, organisation and nominee details and one of the team will be in touch.
How are the Winners decided?
Once the nomination round closes, all nominations are sorted into their respective categories ready for the judging panel to review the applications before meeting formally to discuss their scoring. Each judge will score independently from each other to remove any biases.
Please note that while some nominees may be nominated by multiple people, this will not have any effect on the scoring as to keep the process as fair as possible.
Can I complete a nomination in a different language?
Absolutely! The nomination form is on Microsoft Forms. We have enabled multilingual input from community languages, including Arabic, Urdu, Spanish, French, Polish, and Ukranian.
When will we find out who won?
Winners of the Cardiff Volunteer Awards are announced live at the awards ceremony event! Winner information is not publicised or shared anywhere publicly before the ceremony.
Would you like to sponsor the Cardiff Volunteer Awards 2025?
Call us now! Limited spaces.
Would you like to support communities and volunteers and benefit from the CVA’s publicity? Every year, we look for sponsors to provide financial support for our Awards – by purchasing one of our sponsorship packages, making a monetary or gifts in-kind donation (via product or service), or by purchasing a stall. This is a wonderful opportunity to progress your Corporate Social Responsibility goals and values, and benefit from the publicity of your support for thousands of volunteers who give their time freely to support their communities.
Click here to take a glimpse at how you can sponsor next year.
Please contact us on 02920 485 722 or email us at enquiries@c3sc.org.uk to discuss and start making your offer.
Please note that we are also open to suggestions on how you can support the awards.
CVA Sponsors and Partners
