Ministry of Defence Sanctuary Awards

Overview

The Sanctuary Awards have been recognising outstanding conservation and sustainability efforts across the MOD estate since 1991.

The Awards celebrate and encourage group and individual efforts that benefit sustainable development, environmental and heritage conservation, utilities and resource saving measures, sustainable construction and procurement or community awareness on land or property that the MOD owns or uses in the UK and overseas.

Award Categories

Entries are being sought for the following categories:

• Environmental Enhancement Award - projects focused on wildlife and biodiversity, environmental research, or tackling pollution and contamination issues.

• Heritage Award - projects focused on archaeology, historic buildings, historic parks and gardens, historic landscape preservation, museum collections, heritage education and public engagement.

• Social Value Award - projects focused on any of the social aspects of sustainability, including heritage, public access, community engagement and education.

• Net Zero and Resource Efficiency Award - projects that contribute to the MOD’s Net Zero Carbon ambition, reduce energy, water or resource consumption, renewable energy or recycling.

• Sustainable Procurement and Construction Award - projects to improve sustainability of equipment or services, management of supply chains or product life cycles or new build construction and refurbishment projects that innovate in fields such as new materials or design.

• Individual Achievement Award - for those who have made a significant personal contribution to MOD sustainability or conservation as a volunteer, MOD employee or contractor.

Winners from the above categories will be further considered for one of the following:

• Silver Otter Trophy: awarded to the best Establishment, Conservation Group or community led project or individual conservation effort on the MOD estate.

• Sustainable Business Award: awarded to the best larger scale or commercial project which delivers sustainable solutions to enable the Armed Forces to live, work or train.

Shortlisted nominations will be put forward for the:

• Innovation Award: awarded to those who have exemplified innovative behaviours by championing the adoption of new ideas, innovative ways of working and continuous improvement. This might include taking appropriate risk and early termination of work where relevant.

How to submit an award

• Nominees can be MOD personnel, Conservationconservation Groups,groups, Industryindustry Partnerspartners andor other MOD stakeholders.

• Entries must relate to MOD land, property, activities or equipment, either in the UK or overseas.
• Projects must be completed by 28 July 2023.
• If part of a multiyear project, at least 80% must be completed by 28 July 2023.

Entries must relate to defence land, property, activities or equipment, either in the UK or overseas. All entries must be approved by the Head of Establishment.

To enter submit your nomination online at Sanctuary Awards

If you have any questions, contact the Sanctuary Team at dio-sanctuary@mod.gov.uk who will be happy to help.

The Sanctuary Team will review the nominations and depending on the volume of applications in each category, a long listing selection exercise may take place. A panel of internal and external subject matter experts will then judge the entries using the Sanctuary online portal.

The judges individually review each category in the Sanctuary online portal and can award a maximum score of 5030 points to each nomination. In order to maximise your potential overall score, you must provide full answers to each section. Once each judge has completed their assessment, the judges meet to conduct a moderation exercise, whereby they discuss the reasons for their individual decisions and make a group decision as to the final scores awarded. Once the winners of each category have been determined, the judges select from these winners the overall winners of the Sustainable Business Award and Silver Otter Trophy and Innovation Award.

Related content

• Sanctuary magazine
• Sustainability and Climate Change: MOD.