The Open Arms Awards for Sunderland's Independent Voluntary Sector and are a prestigious recognition program that celebrates and honours the outstanding contributions and achievements of individuals, organisations, and initiatives in the voluntary sector in Sunderland. The awards are designed to acknowledge the dedication, passion, and impact the Voluntary Sector brings to the local community.
The Open Arms Awards include categories that reflect the work of both large and small community groups across a broad range of themes.
Open Arms Awards 2025 Sponsors
Many thanks to our 2025 award sponsors:
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Community Group Awards - Sponsored by 4Louis
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Community Places & Spaces Awards - Sponsored by Northern Powergrid Foundation
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Health and Well Being Awards - Sponsored by Just Let your Soul Grow
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Culture, Heritage and Arts Awards - Sponsored by Sunderland Culture
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Young Volunteer Awards - Sponsored by Sunderland All Together Consortium
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Volunteer of the Year Awards - Sponsored by Lambton Street Youth & Community Hub
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Cohesion Champion Award - Sponsored by the Sunderland All Together Consortium
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Environmental Awards - Sponsored by Groundwork NE
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Community Group
Large and small group category
Influence and Collaboration
Large and small group category
Young Volunteer of the Year
Large and small group category
Cohesion Award
Singular Catergory
Partnership Award
Large and small group category
Culture, Heritage and Arts
Large and small group category
Volunteer of the Year
Large and small group category
Environmental Award
Singular catergory
Community Places and Spaces
Large and small group category
Sport Award
Large and small group category
Open Arms Award
Singular catergory
Health and Wellbeing
Large and small group category
Trustee and the Year
Large and small group category
BAME Champion Award
Singular Catergory
The winners of the Open Arms Awards are chosen through an open and transparent online voting process that ensures that the whole VCS community can take an active part ensuring that those groups and individuals nominated are truly reflective of the sectors opinions. In 2023 we received over 415 nominations and the final Voting process saw close to 37,000 votes cast over all categories.
OPEN ARMS 2023