Back to Culture

LCR Culture & Creativity Awards 2025

Liverpool City Region is a thriving place for culture and creativity and we want to celebrate this.

Johnny Vegas and Elsie Kelley

2025 Awards

The Liverpool City Region Culture & Creativity Awards recognise and celebrate the incredible contribution that culture and creativity make to our city region. Established in 2019 as part of the Metro Mayor’s commitment to culture, the awards are now in their sixth year.

  • We know that people in our City Region are very creative, so we want to shine the spotlight on the fantastic work that is making such a difference to people’s lives. Nominations are not just restricted to work done by professionals but can include creative activity that brings people together, in real life or virtually, so this can involve volunteers and community activity too.

  • The awards are part of the Metro Mayor’s 1% for Culture initiative, and will honour the value and contribution that the cultural and creative sector brings to the Liverpool City Region, making it one of the most vibrant and exciting places to live,

  • work, study, visit or do business in. The Liverpool City Region includes the 6 local authority Boroughs of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens, and Wirral.

  • Nominations for the awards can include an individual, organisation, business, group, or partnership that, has demonstrated outstanding achievement through cultural and/or creative activity over the last year. Our definition of creativity extends to include a wider application and use within technology, innovation, and science in order to develop and introduce new ideas and improved ways of doing things.

  • Finalists are not chosen based on the number of nominations received by the judging panel for a particular project, group or individual, but rather the quality of the work described. One fantastic nomination is all it takes.  

  • Nominations for the 2025 Liverpool City Region Culture & Creativity Awards are now closed. Thank you to all who nominated.

  • 2025 Award Categories

    People’s Choice Award

    This award is to celebrate an outstanding contribution to culture and creativity, which has made a significant difference to the quality of life at either local, Borough or City Region level.

  • The People’s Choice Award is decided by the public, chosen from a shortlist of individuals or organisations that have made an outstanding contribution and shown commitment to culture over a sustained period. 

  • The winner will be an individual, organisation or partnership that has demonstrated creative excellence in using cultural activity to bring about change.  

  •  Previous winners:

    • Africa Oyé
    • The World in One City
    • The Reader
    • The Atkinson Sefton

  • Inspirational Young Person Award

    This award is to celebrate the impact of a young person under the age of 25 who displays an innovative and inspiring approach to art, culture and/or creativity.

  • The winner will be an individual who has made a significant creative impact or made an outstanding piece of work and is inspiring in their chosen area of activity and / or supporting others to be creative.

  • Previous winners:

    • James Gillaspy
    • Abdulwase Sufian
    • Khan Odita
    • Amber Akaunu
    • Nadia Atique Mohamed

  • Artist / Creative of the Year

    This award is to celebrate an individual whose work has stood out and contributed to the cultural and creative reputation of the LCR. This could be for a piece of work or a number of arts, cultural or creative projects that collectively have been consistently outstanding.

  • The winner will be an individual, group or organisation that has produced outstanding work during the year.

  • Previous winners:

    • Natalie McCool and Stealing Sheep
    • Ali Harwood
    • Ashleigh Nugent
    • Paul Curtis

  • Arts Organisation of the Year

    This award is to celebrate an organisation whose work has stood out and contributed to the cultural and creative reputation of the LCR. This could be for a piece of work or a number of arts, cultural or creative projects that collectively have been consistently outstanding.

  •  The winner will be a group or organisation that has produced outstanding work during the year. 

  • Previous winners:

    • Andrew Curphey Theatre Company
    • Culture Knowsley – Borough of Culture 2022
    • The Unity Theatre
    • Writing on the Wall
    • Heart of Glass

  • Health & Wellbeing Award

    This award is to celebrate the impact culture and creativity has in health and wellbeing.

  • The winner will be an individual, organisation, project, or partnership, which has demonstrated excellence in using culture and /or creativity to achieve positive outcomes and transformation in health and wellbeing within the Liverpool City Region. 

  • Previous winners:

    • Dr Simon Abrams, lead for Anfield, Everton & Aintree Community Innovation Team
    • Liverpool Lighthouse
    • Dead Pigeon Gallery & Damien John Kelly House
    • Liverpool Philharmonic
    • Comics Youth CIC

  • Environmental Award

    This award is to celebrate the impact culture and creativity has on the green agenda, including environmental sustainability and contribution to net zero targets.

  • The winner will be an individual, organisation, project, or partnership within the Liverpool City Region, which has demonstrated excellence in these areas. 

  • Previous winners:

    • Imagine Bamboo is Everywhere in the Liverpool City Region
    • DefProc Engineering
    • Metal
    • Friends of Princes Avenue
    • Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse

  • Improving Education & Learning Award

    This award is to celebrate the impact of culture and creativity to achieve positive outcomes in education and learning.

  •  The winner will be an individual, organisation, project, or partnership, within the Liverpool City Region, which can demonstrate excellence and vision in using culture and creativity in these areas.  

  • Previous winners:

    • Liverpool Learning Partnership
    • Agent Academy
    • Heart of Glass with Andy Field & Beckie Darlington
    • dot art Schools
    • The Spider Project

  • Community Cohesion Award

    This award is to celebrate the impact culture and creativity has on bringing communities together.

  •  The winner will be an individual, organisation, project, or partnership, within the Liverpool City Region, which has demonstrated excellence in using culture and creativity to achieve positive outcomes and transformation in communities.  

  • Previous winners:

    • Liverpool Lighthouse
    • Granby Street Market
    • Pagoda Arts
    • Liverpool Irish Centre
    • Mandela8

  • International Reach Award

    This award is to celebrate the impact culture and creativity has on strengthening international relationships.

  •  The winner will be an individual, organisation, project or partnership that operates at an international level and uses culture and creativity to strengthen international relationships, understanding, trade and global cultural opportunities. This category is open to anyone who lives, studies, or works in the Liverpool City Region. 

  • Previous winners:

    • Help Ukraine Song
    • Emma Roberts
    • Dr Vicki Doyle
    • NML House of Memories
    • Africa Oyé

  • Preparing for Work Award

    This award is to celebrate the impact culture and creativity has on developing technical, transferable and life skills in preparing young people for the world of work.

  •  The winner will be an individual, organisation, project or partnership that can demonstrate excellence in using culture and creativity to prepare young people for the rapidly evolving changes, challenges, and opportunities in the future, helping them to achieve their potential. 

  •  This category is open to anyone who lives, studies, or works in the Liverpool City Region. 

  • Previous winners:

    • Writing on the Wall – Write to Work Project
    • A Place for Us CIC
    • Merseyside Community Training
    • Miguel Doforo
    • Andy Dockerty Adlib

  • Business in the Arts Award

    This award is to celebrate businesses that make a significant contribution to economic growth within the arts, culture and creativity sector.

  •  The winner will be a business that has through partnership working, sponsorship or other support, made a significant contribution to the successful sustainability and growth of arts in the Liverpool City Region. 

  • This category is open to any businesses that have had a direct impact on the arts in the Liverpool City Region. 

  • Previous winners:

    • Future Yard CIC
    • Daniel Davies – Rockpoint Leisure
    • dot-art
    • Baltic Creative CIC
    • Make CIC

  • Innovation Award

    This award is to celebrate game changing innovation, through the development of a new product or process in technology, business, healthcare science and / or manufacturing.

  • This could be for a single project or demonstration of innovation across a number of projects.

  • The winning innovation could have been created by an organisation, group, partnership or individual, demonstrating a true innovation launched during the year.

  • Previous winners:

    • House of Memories On the Road, National Museums Liverpool

  • Innovator of the Year Award

    This award is to celebrate an individual, organisation or partnership whose application of creativity has been game changing, demonstrating innovation in the fields of technology, business, healthcare, science and / or manufacturing in order to develop and introduce new ideas and improved ways of doing things.

  • This could be to recognise work for a single project or demonstration of innovation across a number of projects.

  • The winner could be an organisation, group, partnership or individual who has produced outstanding work during the year.

  • Previous winners:

    • Christopher Butler

  • Borough of Culture ‘Star of the Year’

    This award is to celebrate a shining star from the Liverpool City Region’s 2024 Borough of Culture, Wirral.

  • The winner will be an individual from Wirral who has shone during the Borough of Culture year. 

  • This category is open to anyone from Wirral who has been part of the Wirral Borough of Culture programme. 

  • Previous winners:

    • Cath Shea (St Helens)
    • Knowsley Borough of Culture Volunteers (Knowsley)
    • Louise Nulty (Halton)
    • Claire Morgans Y Kids  (Sefton)
    • Paul Askew  (Wirral)

  • Inspiration Award - Lifetime Achievement

  • This award is to celebrate and recognise an individual’s lifelong creative contribution to the Liverpool City Region. This award will be decided by the judging panel.

  • The winner will be someone whose body of work merits recognition for a lifetime’s achievement and who has made a significant creative impact on their area of activity or expertise.  

  • Previous winners:

    • Roger Phillips & Elsie Kelly
    • Sonia Bassey MBE
    • Eric Lynch (posthumous)
    • Bea Freeman
    • Sandi Hughes
    • Frank Cottrell Boyce
    • Ruth Gould

  • Timeline

    10 September 2024: Nominations open

    28 October 2024: Nominations close

    November 2024: Judging commences

    8 January 2025: People’s Choice Award voting is live

    6 February 2025: People’s Choice Award voting closes

    6 March 2025: Awards ceremony

  • Latest News

    Liverpool FC, Airbus and Amazon among big names donating £7m to fund 1,200 Liverpool City Region apprenticeships

    Coffee, history and smiles as Paddy enjoys Ferry ‘Cross the Mersey during Children in Need cycle challenge

    From medicine to education, industry and science: digital humans to introduce inspiring vision of future at international AI Summit

    Read all news