Community Action Award 2013-2014‏

Are you involved in an exciting, innovative project to tackle fuel poverty in your local community?

The Community Action Award Scheme will recognise best practice amongst those who are working to tackle fuel poverty and improve energy efficiency in their local communities. Supported by DECC and British Gas, 15 awards will be made to community groups, third sector organisations, health agencies, local authorities and other public and not-for-profit organisations in England that demonstrate innovative approaches to tackling fuel poverty in one of the following three categories:

Winners will receive £1.5k to develop or enhance their project; a free place at the NEA Annual Conference in 2014; plus practical and financial support to hold a community celebration event. Following the events four of these will be name as national winners and provided with an additional £2k to further enhance their initiative.

THE SCHEME WILL RUN IN TWO PHASES

The application criteria are for each phase are identical, there are however small differences in the number of awards made in each phase. The same project may be submitted for both phases, however if organisations are successful in phase 1 they will not be considered for phase 2. Phase 1 - Nine awards will be made. Each winner will initially receive £1.5k and a place at the NEA conference in 2014 (worth £450). At the end of the phase an overall winner from each category (three in total) will be awarded an additional £2k to further develop their initiative. The closing date for phase 1 is 31 October 2013. Phase 2 - Six awards will be made. Each winner will receive £1.5k and a place at the NEA Annual Conference 2014. At the end of the phase one overall winner will be awarded an additional £2k to further develop their initiative. The closing date for phase 2 is 14 February 2014.

»A copy of the full application process can be downloaded here.

HOW TO APPLY

There are two methods for applying:

Online: »Go to www.nea.org.uk/communityaction. You will need to create a user profile first; this will enable you to save your application and amend it until you are ready to submit. NEA members will be able to use their existing membership log-in details.

Download: »You can download the application form here (Microsoft Word) and return by post or email.