TCV Hero Awards 2026

TCV’s Hero Awards are our annual celebration of our incredible TCV volunteers.

We love to use this opportunity to showcase what volunteers can achieve: for their own health and wellbeing or learning and skills development, and for their wider community and the environment.

Join us and watch the award winners tell their stories and see their fantastic achievements across the UK.

2026 Winners

Nature Empowered Hero

EPIC (Enabling Projects in Clackmannanshire) | TCV Scotland

This award celebrates the dedication of our amazing EPIC volunteers in their local community. View their video to see how their passion for nature and community has transformed green spaces across Clackmannanshire. As a sneak peak, they have planted 17,500 trees, created 20,000m² of wildflower meadow, improved 57km of footpaths and helped restore habitats across more than 60 sites.

Runners up in the Nature Empowered Heroes category is… Stephen Mathieson who volunteers at TCV’s Meridian One Community Garden in London! Steve has volunteered with us for 10 years and now attends twice a week, giving his ideas and helping with growing and construction tasks around the garden. He is described as always motivated with a positive outlook and an extremely valuable volunteer.

Congratulations EPIC and Steve on your well-deserved awards. Thank you for giving your time to nature from us, your fellow volunteers, and your wider community. Another thank you goes to Zurich Insurance, who are our Community Network partners and sponsored this award.

Green Skills Star

Skelton Grange Education Team | TCV Skelton Grange | Leeds

The Green Skills Star Award is designed for teams with outstanding dedication to improving local green spaces while helping others to grow their own skills. TCV Skelton Grange Education Team exemplify this! Watch their video to see how fantastic everyone within the Skelton team has been in creating an incredible environment for children. This allows children to develop green skills and evolve as young people, plus generate a love and appreciation for nature and wildlife, inspiring the next generation of conservationists.

Runners up in the Green Skills Stars category is… Chris Mason from TCV Haringey! Chris was nominated by his team, including other volunteers, who noted his unwavering enthusiasm for the practical work. He passes on his knowledge to others and has a keen eye for capturing the team’s work on camera to share the progress they’ve made over time.

Congratulations and thank you to the Skelton Grange team and Chris for your hard work and impressive impact on the lives of others around you!

Health & Wellbeing Champion

Rob Brown | Rowheath Pavilion | TCV Birmingham

The Health & Wellbeing Champion award celebrates the positive impact that spending time in nature and being outdoors can have – not just on your physical health, but also on your mental wellbeing. Rob’s amazing journey is an inspiration to show how connecting with nature and being outdoors can positively change your life. Watch Rob describe this in his own words in his winner’s video here.

Runners up in the Health and Wellbeing Champion category is… Annadale Community Garden! This fantastic group of volunteers connect to nature and others in Belfast through community gardening, being active in nature and supporting each other to learn more about gardening The Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland.

A massive well done to Rob and the Annadale Community Gardeners for transforming both yourselves and your local green spaces.

Local Environment Protector

Marcus Wheeler | Berkshire Biodiversity Action Team | TCV Reading

The Local Environment Protector award honours individuals who are passionate about preserving and enhancing the natural spaces in their community, which epitomises this years winner, Marcus Wheeler. Marcus is a crucial volunteer with one of our Biodiversity Action Teams empowering others to improve nature in their local communities. With an impressive average of 44 tasks per year, Marcus is hugely appreciated by his group for his skills and passing on his expert knowledge to other volunteers, new and old. Watch him in action here.

Runners up in the Local Environment Protector category is… National Forest Volunteers! This is a group of dedicated and experienced volunteers – most of whom have volunteered regularly for years and some who are now in their 80s – completing tasks such as hedge laying and path work, often in remote locations.

From all of us at TCV, thank you Marcus and the National Forest Volunteers for giving your time and dedication to nature!

Celebrate with us

TCV Hero Award winners are celebrated locally by teams across the UK and on TCV’s national social media channels (Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | BlueSky). Have a watch and if you feel inspired by seeing the achievements of each of our winners, find volunteering opportunities here.

All the films are available on TCV’s YouTube channel along with previous years winners and more. Watch them all here!

Thanks to players of Postcode Lottery for helping to connect people and nature and for supporting our work and for making our celebrations possible.

All volunteers are heroes

At The Conservation Volunteers, we thank each person who comes out, rain or shine, to their local green space to help improve or maintain it.

We’re grateful for all our volunteers who support others in their group, perhaps with practical tasks, to teach someone something new, or to just sit with a cup of tea and talk with each other to help build friendships and support mental health.

We’re also grateful for our volunteers who do so much for their local green spaces and the community who use them. They care immensely for the environment and know that their time volunteering with us will improve biodiversity, provide homes for nature and ultimately benefit us all.

Want to join in?

Next time, we’ll celebrate another group of volunteers and employees for their hard work and achievements. How can you get involved?