25th National Lottery Awards announces Active Row as finalist

London Youth Rowing’s Active Row programme is appealing for votes after reaching the finals of the 25th Birthday National Lottery Awards - the search for the UK’s favourite ever National Lottery-funded projects.

LYR Active Row is competing in the Best Sports Project category. It has seen off stiff competition from more than 700 organisations to reach the public voting stage in this year’s National Lottery Awards, which celebrate the inspirational people and projects who do extraordinary things with the help of National Lottery funding.

The project with the most votes will be crowned the winner and receive a £10,000 cash prize, an iconic National Lottery Awards trophy and attend a star-studded glittering awards ceremony to be broadcast on BBC One in November.

London Youth Rowing’s Active Row programme is working with over 70 state secondary schools from East to West London. Their aim is to engage young people who are less likely to participate in physical activity, such as those from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds, girls and individuals with special educational needs or a disability.

Emily Coe, Active Row Programme Director says winning a prestigious National Lottery Award and having their work showcased on national television would be an honour.

Coe said:

"We are beyond excited to have been considered a finalist in The 25th Birthday National Lottery Awards- especially when you see how many projects entered!

Thanks to National Lottery funding we are able to consistently deliver rowing opportunities in schools, on the water and in competition, inspiring young people to get active and stay active for life. Opportunities that they may not have had previously.

"We would love to win and I know our students would definitely be excited to know they are part of an award-winning Project!

"Winning would push us on even more to achieve our mission of getting 8,000 more young people active across the capital within four years through rowing."

Jonathan Tuchner, from the National Lottery, added: “It’s thanks to National Lottery players, who raise more than £30 million each week for good causes, that brilliant projects like those in the finals of the National Lottery Awards are possible.

Active Row is doing an incredible job in its local community and the work they do is hugely impressive. They thoroughly deserve to be in the finals of the 25th Birthday National Lottery Awards and with your support they could be a winner.

Visit London Youth Rowing’s Active Row voting page, or use the Twitter hashtag #NLAActiveRow.

Voting runs from 9am on 24 July until midnight on 21 August.

The award categories reflect the main areas of National Lottery funding: heritage, sport, arts, culture and film, community and charity, sporting legend which will be decided by a public vote alongside lifetime achievement, young hero, special recognition, and twelve local legend awards, which will be selected by a panel made up of representatives from the National Lottery family.

The first National Lottery draw took place on 19 November 1994. The 25th birthday is a moment to celebrate the extraordinary impact The National Lottery has had on the UK and, most importantly, to say thank you to National Lottery players for contributing tens of millions of pounds every week to good causes.

Whilst The National Lottery is all about winning – with more than 5,100 millionaires created since 1994 – its primary purpose is all about giving. National Lottery players have raised more than £40 billion for good causes in the areas of arts, sport, heritage and community over the past 25 years. More than 565,000 National Lottery grants have been awarded since 1994, the equivalent of around 200 life-changing projects in every UK postcode district helping to strengthen communities, deliver sporting success, protect the environment, unleash local creative talent and look after the elderly and those at risk.

For further information please contact The National Lottery Awards:

Sinead Gilgunn on 07971 367 597, or email Sinead.gilgunn@lotterygoodcauses.org.uk

Notes to Editors

Active Row received £1.3 million of National Lottery funding through the Sport England
All voting will be independently adjudicated and verified by Electoral Reform Services
To find out more about the positive impact playing The National Lottery has and 25th birthday celebrations, please visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk

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