Pollinating the Peak is the National Lottery Project of the Year!

Pollinating the Peak is the National Lottery Project of the Year! - Bumblebee Conservation Trust

Pollinating the Peak, a Derbyshire-based project run by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, has won the inaugural Project of the Year trophy at this year’s National Lottery Awards.

The award, given in recognition of the project’s work inspiring and educating communities, schools and individuals about bumblebees, was presented to Trust staff by BBC Autumnwatch presenter Micheala Strachan at a ceremony in Chesterfield on 3 November 2021.

The annual National Lottery Awards celebrate the people and projects across the UK who do extraordinary things with the help of National Lottery funding.

Pollinating the Peak beat off stiff competition from around 1,500 projects to make this year’s public voting stage, where it faced further competition from 16 other finalists. After the four-week voting window came to an end last month, Pollinating the Peak emerged as the winner with almost 4,000 votes online and on social media.

Sally Cuckney, Pollinating the Peak Project Manager at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust said: “We’re honoured to have won this National Lottery Award and we’re so thrilled that so many people voted to help us win Project of the Year. With the help and support from the National Lottery, we have engaged thousands of people across Derbyshire to help raise awareness, provide habitat and skills for people to love and care for our precious bumblebees, especially the Bilberry bumblebee.”

Pollinating the Peak will receive a £3,000 cash prize, along with an iconic National Lottery Awards trophy.

The project has worked to secure the future of the Bilberry bumblebee, a Peak District priority species, and other local bumblebees by improving habitat conditions and monitoring bumblebee populations.

This vital project was given a huge boost thanks to £814,900 of National Lottery funding, which has helped it engage with more than 20,000 people across the Peak District over the last five years.