Please note that workshops to help with the application process will be held on 3 and 17 May in the City Marketing Suite. Please fill in the registration form if you are interested in attending. The workshops are open to anyone who is interested in applying regardless of whether they have applied before.
You do not need to totally fill the answer boxes, just ensure that it is clear exactly how the community partner contributes towards an effective partnership with the business or public sector organisation. Try to limit your descriptions of the context of your project/programme (e.g. 'Tower Hamlets is one of the most deprived boroughs in the UK...'). While a short explanation of why a particular area and project has been chosen is helpful, the application should be primarily about your project and its impact.
Tell us as much as possible about who has benefited and in what way. The judges will be keen to know what support has been given (by both the business and community organsaition) and how this has enabled you to meet your joint aims. It may be that the partnership is focused on enabling smoother running of the community organisation, such as offering Human Resources, IT or business planning advice, in which case state the differences this has made to the management functions but also that it might have freed up more time for the community organisation to deliver its front line services.
Be honest about any challenges or disappointments you have experienced. The judges know that community involvement can be frustrating as well as rewarding. They will take into account the challenges you have overcome.
In many of the questions on the form, examples are given of information you may wish to include. These examples are not prescriptive and should merely serve as a guide to the information that it might be useful to include.
Each question has a protected maximum number of characters which allows for a slightly more than the stated word limit. Do not feel that you must use all of the words available: previous winners frequently used fewer words than the word limit.
Two or more businesses or public sector organisations can be listed as the partner in an application, where they are working in equal partnership on a given project. In this case, please give the names of all the companies involved but only one set of primary contact details (indicating which company they are from) and one secondary contact for reference only. The Community Partners Award recognises the community partners rather than the business partner. Businesses and Public Sector organisations can be recognised by applying in the other 5 categories.
If a corporate partner is nominating their community partner for the Community Partners Award, they must discuss the application with the community partner first. An email address for the community partner must be provided on the application form and the community partner will be notified when an application is received on their behalf.
We ask all community organisations to give the name and contact details of someone at a business that is mentioned in your application form, who can verify your programme or project. This person will be emailed upon receipt of the application form to verify your partnership. The email will read as follows: Dear Sir / Madam I have received an application to the Lord Mayor's Dragon Awards from [your name]. [Community Organisation x] has listed you as a partner who provides support to their organisation e.g. employee volunteers. If you are happy for this application to proceed to the judging round please do nothing. In the event that you have any concerns please contact 020 7332 3608 or dragonawards@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Please get in touch if you need more help or a looking for some ideas of what to pull out in your application.