Category Archives: News

July 31st is not just my birthday, it’s the deadline for nominations for the party awards.

This is your chance to nominate a party member who has excelled in their service to the party or local government. The process of nomination is easy – you just fill in an online form.

If you have someone you think deserves to be honoured in this way, imagine the delight on their faces when they receive their award at Conference. It will be a bit different this year, but I do hope that something will be arranged to bring the winners together in person when it is safe to do so.

Here’s our report of the 2013 winners’ ceremony so you can get some idea of the sorts of achievements that we’re looking for.

Here are the details of the various awards 

The President’s Award 

• is open to any Party Member elected to public office and who has demonstrated excellence and commitment. 

The Harriet Smith Liberal Democrat Distinguished Service Award 

• is open to any Party Member never elected to public office. 

For both of these awards, the panel will be looking for outstanding commitment and service to the Party. Local, regional and state parties should be seeking to nominate people who deserve recognition for their hard work, long service, and demonstrable dedication to the party, at whatever level. These are expected to be special awards to be awarded from the Party for whom public recognition is overdue. 

The Belinda Eyre-Brook Award 

• is given to recognise and celebrate the efforts of people working for our elected representatives in their local areas – from local party employees, to political assistants to council groups, to people working in MPs’ constituency offices. 

The winner of this award will care about their local area and be committed to the success of Liberal Democrats within it. Turning local political priorities into electoral success, and priorities for elected officials is a key part of the work of successful local Party figures – as is linking with the national party. 

The Dadabhai Naoroji Award 

• is presented annually to the local Party that has done most to promote BAME participants to elected office as Councillors, Assembly Members, Members of Parliament or Members of European Parliament. 

This award is designed to encourage local parties to work towards the goal of increasing their ethnic diversity to more accurately reflect the areas they represent, and to recognise those that already make a great effort to involve different communities in their work

The Penhaligon Award 

• is named for former MP David Penhaligon and is presented to the local party anywhere in the world which demonstrates the most impressive increase in membership and exemplary activities to deliver and involve members and supporters. It recognises the hard work done to build a Party which is attractive and effective at a local level, and that without people on the ground, we would not be able to ‘Stick it on a piece of paper and stuff it through a letterbox’.

The Patsy Calton Award

• Liberal Democrat Women honour exceptional women through the Patsy Calton Award, that was launched shortly after her sad passing. Awardees may be Liberal Democrat councillors, party members or Parliamentarians, who have achieved more for their constituents, the underprivileged in society, perhaps even taken on government and changed things for the better. More information about the award and Lib Dem Women can be found here.

The Bertha Bowness Fischer Award 

• seeks to honour a newer (less than two years) member of the Party who has shown outstanding energy and/or ingenuity in supporting  their new-found political home. 

It seeks to welcome those people who may well be the future of the Party, no matter their background. It is named for a trailblazer for women in not just liberal, but all politics, and recognises the contributions of new friends from outside of politics and from other parties alike. 

For this award only members who joined within the last two years (from July 23rd 2020) are eligible. Nominations may be for work done for any part of the Liberal Democrats.

How do I nominate someone?