What was the Millennium Awards Scheme?
The Millennium Awards Scheme run by the Millennium Commission distributed small Lottery grants called Millennium Awards. These were awarded to individual people for projects which benefited themselves and their community.The Scheme was launched in October 1996 and was the first grant programme to allow individual people to benefit directly from a National Lottery grant. Since then nearly 32,000 people have taken up the challenge and become Millennium Award winners. The Scheme run by the Millennium Commission is now closed to new applications, although Awards are still available through the charity UnLtd (see below for further information). A typical Millennium Award was around £2,000 and they were open to everyone. Millennium Award winners are of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, from all over the UK. What kind of projects did Millennium Award winners do?
The range of projects carried out by Millennium Award winners is huge, from setting up youth groups on inner city estates, to leading neighbourhood clean-up projects and establishing schemes to tackle racism. Many of the projects produced leaflets, training aids and publications. The Commission's collection of these was transferred to the Victoria and Albert Museum. How did Millennium Awards work?
The Millennium Commission worked with established charities and other grant giving organisations known as Award Partners. Each Award Partner managed their own Award Scheme and distributed the Millennium Awards. The Commission worked with over 100 Award Partners. By working with these organisations, Award winners were able to get the support, knowledge and expertise they needed to complete their Millennium Award project. To find out more about the schemes which were run, go to the searchable database. What is the Millennium Awards Fellowship?
When an Award winner successfully completed their project, they became a member of the Millennium Awards Fellowship. The Fellowship was set up to recognise and celebrate the achievements of Award winners and to encourage them to share ideas and experiences. It could also help people find support to continue their projects into the future. A dedicated web site has been set up to achieve these goals and provide a forum for networking and sharing information. This will be looked after by UnLtd from August 2004. The future of the Millennium Awards
Millennium Awards have reached every part of the UK and all sectors of society. Over 16% of Awards have been made to people from ethnic minority communities and over 8% of Awards have been made to people with disabilities. Age is also no barrier, the oldest Award winner is 100 years old. It was always the Millennium Commission's intention that the Awards Scheme should be a part of its long-term legacy. To achieve this and ensure that Awards will continue to be available long into the future, the Millennium Commission left behind a £100 million endowment - the Millennium Awards Trust. UnLtd - The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs - was selected to act as a Trustee to continue the excellent work of the Millennium Awards Scheme. Showcase of Millennium Award winners
To see some of the amazing projects Millennium Award winners have achieved take a look at either copies of Starpeople magazine or visit starpeople.org.uk
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