We’re delighted to share the winners of the Nayler Awards for Excellence in Church Maintenance for 2022 and insights into the new National Church Awards below.
The Nayler Awards for Excellence in Church Maintenance celebrate the hard work by mostly volunteers who maintain important and historic local churches and church buildings across the UK. We were thrilled that our Director, Sue Bowers, was able to provide the award in person for the first time to the winners.
Sue told us that the judges were looking for a “good understanding of the building and its maintenance needs, proactive responses, team work and a well structured maintenance plan”. All these qualities were found in the winners and in addition they “exuded a sense of belonging, camaraderie and fellowship”. Overall the judges described all those working on the maintenance of churches as the “unsung heroes of conservation”.
This year the judges were pleased to announce four country awards and one overall winner. Country winners received a £2,500 cash prize and the overall winner received an additional £2,500. Congratulations to the winners:
- Winner for England is St George, Kidderminster
- Winner for Wales is St Deiniol and St Marcella, Marchwiel
- Winner for Scotland is Bishopton Parish Church
- Winner for Northern Ireland is St Macartan (The Forth Chapel), Augher
The overall winner of the Nayler Awards for Excellence in Church Maintenance was St George, Kidderminster in England!
Winner of the Nayler Award for Excellence in Church Maintenance and Church of the Year for 2021 – St Macartan, The Forth Chapel in Augher, Northern Ireland.
This year was a special year for the Nayler awards, as the National Churches Trust brought together all their awards for the first time as the National Churches Awards. The awards were open to all churches across the UK and brought together 6 award areas: church maintenance, architecture, friends, tourism, volunteers and church of the year. Judges worked through almost 200 entries to find winners for this special event.
Learn more about all the award categories and winners. A special mention must go to the Church of the year: St Macartan (The Forth Chapel), Augher, Northern Ireland. The Church of the year award takes into account all the previous awards – from great maintenance to volunteer management to community engagement. St Macartan had also won the regional award for the Naylers Award for Excellence in Church Maintenance, and it was a pleasure to see them win Church of the year 2022.
Congratulations to all the winners of the Nayler Awards and all the other Church awards!