News

May 28, 2010

Dragon Awards open to London’s socially-conscious firms

London businesses running or taking part in volunteer community projects are being invited on to enter the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards so they can have their achievements recognised.

The Dragon Awards aim to raise the profile of business contributions towards social and economic regeneration across London’s 33 boroughs. Businesses likely to be eligible for awards are those that help their communities as part of their staff training or out of a sense of corporate social responsibility. The awards are not open to charities.

Although there are not separate categories for small firms to apply to, the judges will typically give an award to one large business and one small business in each category.

Interested firms must apply online and submit a short video or up to ten digital photos depicting their community project and its impact.

This year’s award categories include:

• Education Award – for businesses working with educational establishments
• Economic Regeneration – for businesses contributing to local regeneration
• Social Inclusion – for businesses working with socially excluded people
• Heart of the City – for businesses that have set up a corporate community involvement programme for the first time in the last three years
• Lord Mayor’s Award – for businesses that have carried out an exceptional, long-term programme of corporate community investment, with outstanding levels of staff involvement.

Winners will receive a dragon statuette, as well as local and national press coverage.

“Local charities can often be perceived as the sole beneficiaries in corporate volunteering partnerships, but this is simply not the case,” said Lord Mayor of the City of London, Nick Anstee.

“You only need to speak to some of the previous Dragon Award winners – from large firms such as UBS and Deloitte, to smaller organisations such as 8build contractors and Capco Consulting – to see that business volunteers are regularly presented with unique and challenging situations that cannot be replicated through more formal training schemes,” he added.

The deadline for entries is 19 July.

• For more information and to enter the awards, visit the Dragon Awards website