Category: Midlothian Volunteer Awards

Nominations Now Open for Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2026!

Ellis on 17 March, 2026

We are thrilled to announce that the nominations for the Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2026 are officially open! 

This annual event is an opportunity for us to celebrate and acknowledge the incredible contributions and achievements of our dedicated volunteers. Volunteers play a significant role in boosting the welfare of our community, and Volunteers’ Week is the perfect opportunity to celebrate them.

This year’s awards ceremony will be an unforgettable moment, celebrating the individuals who go the extra mile to make lasting and positive impacts within their community. We strongly encourage everyone to take the opportunity to nominate a volunteer they know who has made considerable impacts throughout their volunteering journey.

This year we are introducing a new award category, Uniformed Volunteer. This award wishes to acknowledge and thank all the volunteers who contribute to our community through uniformed organisations like Scouts, Youth Police Volunteers, Cadets, and many more.  

We have also introduced the Dedicated Service to the Community award, combining the Service to the Community and Dedicated Service to Volunteering categories. This award wishes to acknowledge all the volunteers who contribute towards significant services, organisations and causes within their local community and is a thank you to those who donate their time to make our community the best it can be.  

We value our volunteers and the profound effects their hard work leaves on Midlothian and those living in the area. We would like to thank all volunteers for their amazing work and commitments to the community, and we are eager to share their empowering stories at our awards ceremony this year.  

Nominations are due to close on Monday 20th April 2026, so if you would like the opportunity to highlight someone who deserves to be acknowledged for their efforts, send in your nomination soon and help us honour those who go above and beyond for our community.  

Read our FAQs on the Midlothian Volunteer Awards page before submitting your nomination.

Nominations for the Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2026 are now open!

2026 Nomination Form

Deadline for nominations: Monday 20 April 2026.

Celebrating Uniformed Volunteers with Police Scotland

Ellis on 29 September, 2025

As we mark one year since the launch of the Volunteering For All national campaign, we’re thrilled to share some exciting developments in Midlothian’s volunteering landscape.

We were recently joined at our office by Midlothian’s Local Area Commander from Police Scotland, Chief Inspector Kirsty McArthur-Kerr, for a special interview hosted by Black Diamond FM. The conversation touched on the importance of volunteering, community connections, and the launch of our new ‘Uniformed Volunteer’ Award category. You can listen to the full interview here:

Introducing the ‘Uniformed Volunteer’ Award

In partnership with Police Scotland and with support from the Midlothian Provost in their role as Volunteering Champion, we’re proud to announce a brand-new category for the Midlothian Volunteer Awards: Uniformed Volunteer Award.

This award will celebrate individuals who volunteer as part of a uniformed organisation—recognising their dedication, exemplary conduct, and role as positive ambassadors in our communities. Eligible groups include Scouts, Girl Guides, Youth Police Volunteers, Cadets, Royal Archers, Boys and Girls Brigade, St John Ambulance, Coastguard, and many more.

Welcoming Back Police Scotland

We’re delighted to welcome Police Scotland back as a sponsor of the Midlothian Volunteer Awards, joining a fantastic group of sponsors and supporters who help make this annual celebration possible. Our sponsors include:

  • Midlothian Council
  • Health and Social Care Partnership
  • SQA
  • EDF
  • Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
  • David Wilson Homes

And our supporters:

  • Midlothian Provost – Volunteer Champion
  • Midlothian Lord Lieutenant

Their continued support helps us shine a light on the incredible contributions of volunteers across Midlothian.

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Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2025

Ellis on 9 June, 2025

On Thursday 29 May 2025, volunteers from across Midlothian arrived at Newbattle Abbey College for our annual Midlothian Volunteer Awards Ceremony. We’re thrilled to celebrate all the amazing efforts of volunteers each year.

This celebration is a part of Volunteer’s Week, a national initiative where we appreciate volunteers across Scotland. It provides a great opportunity to highlight some of the fabulous volunteering projects that exist in Midlothian.

Photographs

Special thank you to Kris Soul Photography for the wonderful photos.

View All Photos

Programme

View the award winners & nominees in our 2025 programme. There are a limited number of printed copies available to pick up from MCA’s office.

Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2025 Programme by Zoe Innes

Mascot Campaign

Last year, instead of introducing a new mascot, we brought back all our previous mascots to celebrate with everyone. This year, we are excited to continue the tradition by introducing a brand-new mascot — a lovely bear! With the recent merger of Volunteer Midlothian and Midlothian Voluntary Action, and our new name, we thought the bear deserved a new name too.

We hosted a Name the Bear competition taking place over Volunteers’ Week, and are excited to announce the winning name for our mascot: Middie!

Chosen for its fun and friendly feel, Middie is a perfect fit for a bear representing the heart of Midlothian. It’s short, memorable, and captures the local spirit we’ve seen throughout the mascot’s journey. Congratulations to the winner of our Name the Bear competition — we’ll be in touch with you soon to arrange your prize, the bear for you to keep!

A huge thank you to all our sponsors for getting involved and taking fantastic photos with the bear.

Thank You

The Midlothian Volunteer Awards couldn’t take place each year without the support from our sponsors. Thank you!

Capital City Partnership

David Wilson Homes

EDF Energy

Midlothian Council

Midlothian Health & Social Care Partnership

Newbattle Abbey College

Scottish Fire & Rescue Service

Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA)

Well Done You Ltd

Follow us on social media to keep up-to-date on all our events:

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Nominations open for the Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2025!

Ellis on 27 February, 2025

We are pleased to announce that nominations are officially open for the Midlothian Volunteer Awards, an event specially designed to honour the volunteers that help our community. We are excited to shine a spotlight on the dedicated and hard-working individuals that work hard to uplift the communities in Midlothian. Volunteers play a vital role in improving the well-being of our community and now it is time to recognise their fantastic contributions.

Submit your nomination here before Thursday 27 March!

Winners at the 2024 Award Ceremony.

This year’s awards ceremony will be a memorable occasion, celebrating the people that go above and beyond, making a positive impact. The awards provide a platform to acknowledge their hard work and dedication. We encourage everyone to take this opportunity to nominate those who have made a significant difference through volunteering. Whether they’ve given their time to charities, environmental initiatives or have supported those in need.

This year the awards will be introducing a new category, Volunteer Leader. This category is being reintroduced in 2025 to recognise the enormous efforts of team leads, project coordinators and managers who ensure continuity of business and delivery of services to local communities and vulnerable groups. This award is a small thank you for being innovative, persuasive, brave and visionary; for leading and inspiring people whose motivation is not a salary but sense of purpose and kindness.

Volunteers’ efforts leave a lasting impression on Midlothian, building a stronger and more compassionate society. We want to thank all volunteers and look forward to sharing their inspiring stories at the awards ceremony.

The deadline for nominations is approaching fast and will close on the Thursday 27 March. So don’t miss out on the chance to spotlight someone who deserves to be recognised. Help us give back to those who have given so much to our community.

Authored by Zoe Innes.

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Panda-monium at the Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2024!

Ellis on 14 June, 2024

On Thursday 6 June, volunteers across Midlothian arrived at Newbattle Abbey College for our annual Midlothian Volunteer Awards. The night was a blast and we want to thank everyone who attended. It is a joy to celebrate the hardworking volunteers in Midlothian each year. We hope you all had as much fun as we did!

Photographs

Thank you to our wonderful photographer, Kris Soul Photography, for capturing the evening.

Click the button below to see photos from the awards ceremony:

View Photos

Programme

You can see the winners and nominations from the night in our awards programme:

2024 ProgrammeDownload

Mascot Campaign

In 2024, our mascot campaign is a little different. Each year we usually have a student placement who works with us to organise a competition and campaign with a brand new mascot. This year, we didn’t have a student placement but we couldn’t bear to have Volunteers’ Week without a mascot! We brought back mascots from previous years; Bramble the Bear, Pretzel the Panda, and Ringo the Rhino to keep the tradition going. Take a look at our campaign video down below.

We hope these mascots will find someone to look after them next year!

A BIG thank you to our generous sponsors:

EDF Energy

Scottish Qualifications Authority

Well Done You Ltd

Esk Valley Rotary Club

Midlothian Council

Newbattle Abbey College

Scottish Fire & Rescue Service

Midlothian Health and Social Care Partnership

We can’t wait to see you all again for next year’s ceremony!

Boogie & Arlene Want You… To Nominate For The Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2024!

Ellis on 12 March, 2024

NOMINATIONS CLOSE NEXT WEEK for the 2024 Midlothian Volunteer Awards! 🎉

The Midlothian Volunteer Awards take place each year, and are all about celebrating the amazing efforts of volunteers in Midlothian. This celebration is a part of Volunteers’ Week, where we appreciate people’s kindness across the whole of Scotland. It is a great opportunity to promote some of the fabulous volunteering projects that exist in Midlothian.

Please ensure you read the FAQs here before you submit.

A big thank you to Boogie & Arlene from Forth One for helping us get the message out!

Nomination-Example-MCANomination Example and Photo Guidelines

If you have any questions, email volunteering@mca.scot

Nominations Open for the 2024 Midlothian Volunteer Awards!

Ellis on 29 February, 2024

Nominations are now open for the 2024 Midlothian Volunteer Awards! 

The Midlothian Volunteer Awards take place each year, and are all about celebrating the amazing efforts of volunteers in Midlothian. This celebration is a part of a national initiative, where we appreciate people’s kindness across the whole of Scotland. It is a great opportunity to promote some of the fabulous volunteering projects that exist in Midlothian.

Please ensure you read the FAQs here before you submit.

Nominations will close on March 22nd, so submit them soon.

DownloadNomination Example and Photo Guidelines

Submit Your Nomination

If you have any questions, email volunteering@mca.scot

Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2023

Ellis on 9 June, 2023

The Midlothian Volunteer Awards are all about celebrating the amazing efforts of volunteers in Midlothian.

The awards take place every year during Volunteers’ Week and are a great opportunity to promote some of the fabulous volunteering projects that exist in Midlothian.

Video created by Ellis Paterson.

Thank you to our wonderful photographer, Kris Soul Photography, for capturing the evening.

Programme

You can see the winners and nominations from the night in our awards programme:

Mascot Campaign

Our student placement, Julianne, organised our Volunteer’s Week mascot competition this year. She produced this great video that shows our mascot on his journey to the Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2023.

For the competition, we took name suggestions for our mascot from local schools and the winner was chosen by vote at the awards ceremony. The winner was the name ‘Ringo’, suggested by a child at Woodburn After School Club, who received £100, their own cuddly toy rhino and a winner’s certificate.

Video created by Julianne Nixon.

Chief Officer’s Speech

A Message from Forth One’s Boogie & Arlene

Thank You to Our Sponsors

EDF Energy

Scottish Qualifications Authority

Midlothian Council CLLE

Esk Valley Rotary Club

Police Scotland

Newbattle Abbey College

Scottish Fire & Rescue Service

Midlothian HSCP

Well Done You Ltd

Volunteer Midlothian’s Rhino Mascot Visits Mauricewood Primary School

Richard Cross on 15 May, 2023

Our Napier university student Julianne visited Mauricewood Primary School last week with Volunteer Midlothian’s Volunteering Development Worker, Magda, to tell pupils about Volunteers’ Week 2023. The pair delivered a special presentation, with all of the children at Mauricewood listening carefully to what was said and asking lots of very thoughtful questions.

Julianne doing the presentation at Mauricewood primary.

Julianne and Magda took time during their visit to share positive messages with the children about the importance of volunteering. They also introduced our rhino mascot to the pupils, with a short imaginary story about why the mascot has no name and why its mission is to help us celebrate volunteers who make a difference in Midlothian.

The pupils were encouraged to consider what volunteers do within their communities and the benefits that this can bring. Julianne went on to explain the rules for our ongoing ‘Name the Mascot’ competition, which runs from 15th May – 1st June 2023. Children living in Midlothian are allowed to name the rhino, then on the 1st of June the winning entry will be chosen by guests at our annual Midlothian Volunteer Awards ceremony. The winning child will receive a certificate, a rhino toy of their own, and £100 for their school or after school club to spend on new resources.

The pupils of Mauricewood Primary School came up with some great ideas for the rhino during our visit. Names such as ‘Noah’, ‘Hamish’ and ‘Isla’ were among the many suggestions made. We are looking forward to finding out what other entries will be submitted by pupils from other schools and afterschool clubs in Midlothian.

Good luck Mauricewood, as well as all the other schools and children taking part!

Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2022

Ellis on 10 June, 2022

The Midlothian Volunteer Awards are all about celebrating the amazing efforts of volunteers in Midlothian.

The awards take place every year during Volunteers’ Week and are a great opportunity to promote some of the fabulous volunteering projects that exist in Midlothian.

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Winners & Nominees

The winners of the Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2022 are as follows: 

  • Outstanding New Volunteer: Margaret McMekin from Transform Volunteering.
  • Befriender/Mentor of the Year: Alan Paterson from Thornton Rose Riding for the Disabled.
  • Active Volunteering and Climate Change: The Amazing Brains Committee, Art Club.
  • Service to the Community: Juliette Paris from Rosewell Community Council.
  • Health and Wellbeing Award: Margaret Canning from Hearing Link Scotland.
  • Dedicated Service: John McVeigh from Health-in-Mind.
  • Equality & Diversity: Joanna Haba from Home Link Family Support.
  • Saltire Summit Award: Sam Ewens, Lucy White, Andrew Hogg, Caitlin Chambers, Kari Calder, Jaylynn King.
  • Volunteer of the Year: Karyn Mcgrath.
  • Volunteering Team of the Year: Ageing Well Volunteer Team.

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Never Mind the Football – the Midlothian Volunteer Awards are Coming Home!

Richard Cross on 8 July, 2021

It’s been a month since the 2021 Midlothian Volunteer Awards ceremony took place online, and we are pleased to say that we have now managed to get the trophies and certificates into the hands of all our wonderful award winners and nominees. Here are a few pics of the trophies being handed over. It was a pleasure to work with everyone involved in the awards and to meet the winners in person. We look forward to doing it all again in years to come.

Well done and thanks again everyone – winners AND nominees!

Members of Art Club’s ‘Amazing Brains Committee’ receiving their Covid-19 Community Award.

Ellie and Holly from the Midlothian Breastfeeding Alliance accepting the MBA’s award for voluntary work related to Health and Wellbeing.

Gina from the Penicuik Ambassadors, who won the ‘Volunteer Team of the Year’ award. Gina was able to come to the Glencorse Centre with her daughter to collect the award at the same time as the MBA.

Ricky Lloyd from Dalkeith Rugby Club accepting his award for Active Volunteering. Chris Boyle also jointly won this award for his hard work alongside Ricky.

We wonder who got to take the award home!

A member of the team from Food Facts Friends receiving the organisation’s certificate of nomination for the Covid-19 Community Award. Heather Mortimore from Food Facts Friends won the ‘Outstanding New Volunteer Award’.

We delivered the certificate and trophy on the same day that some of the other trophies were handed over in the Penicuik area. Unfortunately, Heather wasn’t there at the time of drop off, but we hope she liked it when she got it!

Samantha Gough, winner of the Saltire Summit Award for her dedicated volunteering with the children and families charity, Bright Sparks.

We think Bramble the teddy looks very happy snuggling up with Samantha.

Joseph Burke, Midlothian’s ‘Volunteer of the Year’ 2021. Joseph won this award in recognition of the outstanding volunteer work he has done over the past 18 months on behalf of local mental health charity Health in Mind.

Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2021

Ellis on 4 June, 2021

The Midlothian Volunteer Awards are all about celebrating the amazing efforts of volunteers in Midlothian.

The awards take place every year during Volunteers’ Week and are a great opportunity to promote some of the fabulous volunteering projects that exist in Midlothian.

In 2021, we did things a little differently. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the award ceremony was held online. There was also a new category introduced to acknowledge the amazing community-led volunteering efforts that occurred in response to the pandemic.

The ceremony was very different to the one we’re used to at Newbattle Abbey College, nonetheless we were joined by around 150 people to share the appreciation and admiration for Midlothian’s volunteers. We even got a mention in UK Parliament!

2021 Volunteering Team of the Year, Penicuik Ambassadors.

Winners

The winners of the Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2021 are as follows: 

  • Outstanding New Volunteer: Heather Mortimore from Food Facts Friends. 
  • Befriender/Mentor of the Year: The Connect Project Volunteers from Volunteer Midlothian. 
  • Active Volunteering: Chris Boyle and Ricky Lloyd of Dalkeith Rugby Football Club. 
  • Health and Wellbeing Award: The Midlothian Breastfeeding Alliance.
  • Dedicated Service: Colette Pye from Mayfield and District Breastfeeding Support Group. 
  • Covid-19 Community Award: The Amazing Brains Committee at Art Club.
  • Volunteer Manager of the Year: Naomi Knights from the Connect Project at Volunteer Midlothian. 
  • Saltire Summit Award: Kyle Anderson, Eva Hesketh-Laird, Louise Gillespie, Melissa Reidie, Samantha Gough.
  • Volunteer of the Year: Joseph Burke of Health in Mind.
  • Volunteering Team of the Year: Penicuik Ambassadors. 

Photographs

Mascot Campaign

In 2021, as part of our mascot campaign, we ran a ‘Name the Bear’ competition for primary schools in Midlothian.

The bear travelled around Midlothian, visiting different beauty spots and places of interest, posting photo updates on our social media using the hashtag #wheresthebear

At the end of its journey on June 3rd, the bear received its new name, Bramble, as voted for by participants at the Midlothian Volunteer Awards ceremony. The name was based on entries from local primary school children, with the winning entry receiving £100 for the school.