Nominations for the 2026 Lord Mayor's Awards are open until 30 October. Anyone who lives, works, studies or volunteers in the district can be put forward.

Nominations for the 2026 Lord Mayor’s Awards opened on Monday, and close at the end of October. The awards go to people in the Canterbury district who help others without being paid or noticed for it, and every nomination comes from somebody who has been on the receiving end of that help.

The deadline the council has published is 30 October 2026. Its announcement calls that a Wednesday. It is a Friday, so if you are working to the day rather than the date, aim for Wednesday 28 October and you cannot go wrong.

Who can be nominated

  • There is no age limit, and nominations are welcome from all walks of life.
  • The person you nominate must live, work, study or volunteer in Canterbury, Herne Bay, Whitstable or a village in the district.
  • You do not have to live in the district to nominate.
  • Judging is by the Lord Mayor of Canterbury, Cllr Alister Brady, and one representative from each political group on the city council.
  • The awards are presented at a ceremony early next year.

You can nominate online through the council’s form, which asks for your own details first and then for the person you are putting forward. Paper forms are available from the Lord Mayor’s office on 01227 862080, or by emailing lordmayor@canterbury.gov.uk.

What a winning nomination looks like

Four people received the award in the last round, presented at Tower House on Wednesday 28 January 2026 by the then Lord Mayor, Cllr Keji Moses. The council published who they were and why, and the reasons are a useful guide to what the panel responds to.

  • Steve Clayton, chairman of Whitstable Football Club, an unpaid role he spends up to 40 hours a week on. His nomination credited him with taking the club from ten youth teams and a senior side in debt to a not-for-profit with 47 teams and more than 600 players, and with setting up free sessions funded by grants he wrote himself.
  • Rachel Gauton, of the Route 23 café in Sussex Avenue, Canterbury, who raised the money to fit out and staff the café so that people with little on their CVs could get training and experience. It has been running for ten years. One guest’s line in the nomination was: “The people at Route 23 are my family.”
  • Paul and Rani Babra, of Canterbury, nominated together for years of providing food and entertainment at community events, and for free meals to people who were isolated or in need, and to key workers, during the pandemic.

None of those citations turn on an award already won or a large sum raised. They turn on time given over years, and on somebody being willing to write it down.

The office behind the award

The Lord Mayoralty is the highest office the city council can bestow. A Lord Mayor is elected each year from among the city councillors, is the district’s “first citizen” and the official representative of the crown, and takes precedence anywhere in the district over everyone except royalty and the Lord Lieutenant of Kent. The Lord Mayor for this civic year is Cllr Alister Brady, the Lady Mayoress is Magali Barnoux, and his chosen charity for the year is the Kent Neuro Therapy Centre.

That office is not guaranteed to survive local government reorganisation, which is why a cross-party group of councillors has said that protecting Canterbury’s city status and the roles of Lord Mayor and Sheriff is its top priority if the district is merged. This round of awards will be presented early in 2027, before any change takes effect.

What it means for you: if there is a person in your street, club, school or place of worship who does the unglamorous work, this is the month to put their name in. It takes a few minutes online, and the nomination itself is what the panel reads, so write down what the person actually does and who it helps. For other district recognition open now, see our report on the council’s biodiversity grants.

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