ACCT UK Excellence Award Nomination Form

Any ACF volunteer may nominate an ACF cadet, adult volunteer, or eligible group. Complete the ACCT UK Excellence Award nomination form online below, or download it from our Excellence Awards page and email it to awards@acctuk.org in Word format (no PDFs). 

Please read the guidance notes carefully before completing this form. 

We award the ACCT UK Excellence Awards and President’s Certificate to ACF volunteers and cadets who demonstrate excellent and exceptional service in non-military activity, community service, and to ‘unsung heroes’. 

The ACCT UK Excellence Awards are our highest honour. We invite recipients to an annual awards ceremony in London.  

The ACCT UK President’s Certificate is of a similar status to the ACF Certificate of Good Service – whereas that has a military bias, the ACCT UK President’s Certificate is for non-military and community service activities. 

We review every nomination and may put suitable nominees forward for other awards, including the League of Mercy Medal and the British Citizen Award. 

ACCT UK places great importance on the breadth of the Army Cadet experience and therefore uses the awards to recognise outstanding contributions to the ACF’s core non-military programmes of: 

For 2026, we have added a special category to celebrate cadets and volunteers who give their all but might not meet the above criteria: 

ACCT UK will present one trophy for cadets and one for volunteers in each category.  We do not limit the number of President’s Certificates that we issue. We may also award President’s Certificates to teams. 

For each category, the individual being nominated (nominee) must have shown excellent and exceptional service. We are looking for commitment and consistency of approach over a long period. We recognise that cadets have less time to build a record of service than adult volunteers. 

ACCT UK are not necessarily looking for the highest-achieving cadet or volunteer in these fields but instead want to recognise those who regularly go the extra mile in the service of others. 

We place particular value on nominees who have helped these activities grow within their detachments, companies, or counties. For example, for the Music Award, we are not looking solely for the most accomplished musician. Rather, we want to recognise cadets who have encouraged others to take up music and supported them over time. 

Examples of past winners can be found here. 

Do not make nominations for one-off acts of first aid or bravery. Instead, nominate them for an ACCT UK Praiseworthy Action Award.  

Any serving and active ACF cadet, adult volunteer, or eligible group may be nominated, regardless of rank. 

We do not accept nominations for individuals or groups in the non-effective pool, nor for CCF (Army). 

Any ACF volunteer can submit a nomination. 

Please submit only one nomination for each individual or group. If we receive multiple nominations for the same person or group, we will combine them and consider them as a single nomination. (There is no benefit to making multiple nominations). 

Submit nominations online using the form above or by Word document to ACCT UK at awards@acctuk.org. 

Remember to inform your County Commandant of any nominations you make. We will contact them to endorse shortlisted nominations. 

The nomination form asks for the information we need to assess the nomination. However, not all will be applicable in every case and can be left blank. 

In the first question, provide a citation of no more than 200 words summarising why you are making the nomination. 

Use the nomination to show practical examples of: 

Support the nomination with specific facts, dates, numbers. Avoid vague superlatives e.g. “the nominee’s performance has been quite magnificent”. 

Remember to include any detail that will demonstrate how this nominee stands out from all others. 

Do not submit evidence with the nomination. However, Commandants must be satisfied that evidence exists to support the claims made. We may request further evidence and/or letters of support if we consider the nomination for external awards. 

You can submit nominations at any time during the calendar year – the earlier, the better! 

All nominations for 2026 must be submitted by 31 December 2026. 

An ACCT UK panel comprising the Senior Leadership Team and at least two trustees select the winners. 

We will present the Excellence Award 2026 trophies at a prestigious event in London on 11 June 2027.   

ACCT UK will cover reasonable travel and accommodation costs for one guardian/parent/escort for cadets and one guest for adult winners.   

We will send President’s Certificates to County Commandants in spring for local presentation. 

We will automatically consider the suitability of every nomination for other awards e.g. the medals of the League of Mercy and British Citizen Award.   

In general, nominations considered for external awards will reflect exceptional service to the community and will require service of over 3 years (cadets) and 7 years (adults).  Whilst ‘Community’ can include the cadet community, service to the wider community will carry more weight. 

Nominations may highlight specific acts, such as saving a life, but they must also demonstrate wider community service. 

Although the form reflects the criteria for external awards, we may ask for additional information, as required. 

We will let you know if we put a nomination forward for another award.   

We may publicise nominations within the ACF and externally.   

When we notify County Commandants of an award, they must confirm that the nominee agrees to publicity and tell ACCT UK about any concerns. 

If you need advice before making a nomination, please contact awards@acctuk.org.  

After submitting a nomination, please advise awards@acctuk.org if the nominee leaves the ACF or changes rank before we present trophies/certificates.  The nomination can be updated at any time.