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The Christmas Challenge is the UK’s biggest online match funding campaign run by the Big Give. The Awards have been established to recognise the best performing of the hundreds of charities that take part each year.

How were they judged?

Charities who met or exceeded their fundraising targets were eligible to apply. A judging panel, headed up by Sir Alec Reed CBE, assessed the entries against the following set of criteria:

The Big Give would like to thank all 58 entrants for their applications and particularly to congratulate those that have received recognition in their categories. The overall winner and second place entries receive larger prize funds of £3,000 and £2,000 respectively. All other winners receive an additional £1,000 for their charity and all prize funds are unrestricted grants for the charity’s work.

The winners

The successful entrants and special mentions have been awarded as follows:

Overall winner (£3,000): Send a Cow

2nd place (£2,000): Clean Break

3rd place (£1,000): South London Cares

Newcomer:

Winner: Association for Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Disorders (AMEND)

Special mentions: North London Cares; Brendoncare Clubs

UK:

Winner: The Reader

Special mentions: The Passage; Livability

Small (<£1 million annual income):

Winner: The Lutyens Trust

Special mentions: acet UK; Sport 4 Life UK

International:

Winner: Irise International

Special mentions: Project Harar; Self Help Africa

Children – kindly sponsored by The Childhood Trust

Winner: Venture Community Association

Special mentions: RADA; The Adnan Jaffery Educational Trust

Arts & Culture:

Winner: Cheltenham Festivals Ltd

Creative Marketing:

Winner: Royal Holloway, University of London

Supporter engagement

Winner: The Lullaby Trust

Sir Alec Reed CBE, Founder of the Big Give commented:

‘I was delighted to see such a high calibre of entries for the Christmas Challenge Awards. These charities have demonstrated the scope of what is possible in terms of strategically and creatively engaging with supporters through the campaign and I’m sure that their work will provide inspiration for other participating charities. All the shortlisted charities deserve recognition for standing out amongst a set of excellent entries, and congratulations to the winners on their outstanding work.’

The Big Give will share some of the best examples of supporter engagement and creative marketing on its website to help charities in the future to learn from those leading the way with their approaches to marketing the campaign and effective fundraising.