Creative Lives Awards

Celebrating the achievements of community-led creative groups

The Creative Lives Awards celebrate the creative groups that enhance people's lives in villages, towns, and cities across the UK and Ireland. Since 2010, we've invited community-led groups to share their activities and achievements, so that we can give you a well-deserved moment in the spotlight.  

Our Award winners all use creativity to bring people together. Groups might take part in singing, dancing, painting, crafting, performing, playing music, or any other creative activity. All of them provide vital opportunities for people to find community, express their creativity, make friends, learn new skills, boost their wellbeing - and have fun together!

The 2024 Creative Lives Awards are now open for entries!

Learn more and check your eligibility

Please read our rules and guidelines, and check the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), before you start filling out your application form. 

Enter the Creative Lives Awards

You can either complete your application form online, or by downloading the form and returning it to us via email at [email protected]

The closing date for applications is 11.59pm on Monday 13 May 2024.

Please get in touch at [email protected] if you have any further questions, if you need further support completing your application, or if you need any of the information or forms in a different format. Good luck!


A Celebration of Humanity

Want to learn more about the Creative Lives Awards? You can read about some of our previous winners below and the wonderful work they do, or check out a list of our recent winners here. We hope they will inspire you to tell us all about your group!

Winner of the 2021 England Creative Lives Award, May Project Gardens is a South London-based grassroots organisation whose mission is to empower marginalised groups to address poverty and access to resources, and to exert influence through sustainability and creativity. 

A former council home with a derelict garden which has been turned into a public community space, the project has flourished into a nurturing safe space for workshops, healing, and communication, the award winning educational programme Hip Hop Gardens and Come We Grow event; a platform to showcase artists. Founder Ian, also known as KMT re-creates work with well-being workshops, DJ and MCing, performing and consulting on environment and ethics.

May Project Gardens

"We use nature, food and creative arts to work with marginalised groups - mostly young people, people of colour and refugees - to create social change. Having genuine care for the people around us and the environment is pivotal to our success." Ian Solomon-Kawall, May Project Gardens

Learn more