Big Lottery Fund to offer sixty £60,000 grants to celebrate Queen's Diamond Jubilee

The Big Lottery Fund, in partnership with ITV, is marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by making sixty grants of £60,000 available. The £3.6 million Jubilee People’s Millions awards will be awarded to new projects next year that "will inspire or improve local communities".

Community groups across the UK are being invited to bid for a share of the funding, with finalists appearing on ITV regional news when the public will vote and decide which projects receive the Lottery Diamond Jubilee funding.

Anna Southall, Vice Chair of the Big Lottery Fund, said: "We want to encourage as many people as possible to think about what they could do with £60,000 of Lottery money in their local area with the benefits being reaped during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year."

The Jubilee People’s Millions will run in place of The People’s Millions competition in 2011. This week (22 – 26 November 2010) the Big Lottery Fund has awarded nearly £3.8 million to 75 community projects across the UK in this year's The People’s Millions competition.

Groups have until 4 February 2011 to get their entries in. The projects that receive the most votes will be awarded the funding next summer (2011), in order to be up and running in time for the Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee year, 2012.

www.jubileepeoplesmillions.org.uk

Photo: David Parry/PA