The nine regional ONE Awards 2023 events have taken place across the country, recognising and celebrating the amazing individuals and organisations that enrich lives on and beyond the court each and every year.
The regional winners have all now been invited to the National ONE Awards celebration which will take place on Saturday 14 October 2023 at The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield. Catch a glimpse of last year’s star-studded event here.
Read more about each of the regional ONE Awards and find out the winners by clicking into the different sections below.
A total of 163 nominations were received in the East with a record number submitted for the ‘Unsung Hero’ category (44).
The East’s oldest volunteer at the event presented to the youngest volunteer – awarding them the Young Person of the Year Award.
After the launch of NETBALLHer in March, this year’s celebration promoted the initiative which was well received.
Bernadette Palmer was awarded East Honorary Life membership (East HLM).
The East Midlands celebration had its biggest-ever attendance with over 140 guests and £830 was raised on the night for Pancreatic Cancer in honour of Chloe Gibson.
122 nominations were received in total across all the categories, which is the most ever submitted in the region.
Ashby Netball Club, who have been awarded a Guinness World Record for their charity record of netball goals in 24 hours, won Club of the Year.
Two other additions to the event were special recognition awards to honour those that don’t meet other criteria and make sure they are recognised by each county, as well as Regional League and League Players of the Season awards to bring more of the region together.
Loughborough Lightning’s Vic Burgess and Liv Murphy were guests of honour on the night, taking part in a Q&A and giving attendees a chance to have their pictures taken with the NSL trophy!
The London and South East ONE Awards took place on Sunday 9 July.
Held in the heart of London at ISH Venues, it was the biggest event to date with 110 attendees across all constituent counties.
2023 saw a record number of nominations for the region with 89 individuals put forward in recognition of their incredible volunteering efforts at all levels of the game.
This included a whopping 21 nominations for the Unsung Hero of the Year which proved to be the most popular category.
The North East enjoyed its highest-ever nominations for the regional ONE Awards with 112 in total.
Over 180 attendees – again, the most the North East has ever had – came together at the event with representatives from all counties.
The North East Long Service Award was introduced which made the night incredibly special. It filled the room with a mix of emotions: pride, happiness and togetherness, including some tears!
North East Walking Netball and North East Back to Netball awards were also added to the occasion, to celebrate the casual coaches and successful programmes with trophies handed over by our NDOs and NDCCs.
The North West ONE Awards took place on 17 June 2023 at the Hotel Football an evening event with a three course dinner, Betty Glover as compere and dancing!
It was the second year it has been held alongside Manchester Thunder’s End of Season awards and they’d won the Fast5 tournament the day before.
This year saw a record number of nominations – 161 compared to 86 the year before! It’s the first time the team have had to shortlist and only invite the top 10 in four categories.
It’s the fifth year of celebrating what were formerly the Goalden Globes and now the ONE Awards. Previously the awards were handed out after the AGM but in 2017, the format was changed to a celebration event and 60 people attended on the first occasion. In 2023, a total of 210 people attended the event, including 76 from Thunder.
The Netball South Celebration Event took place on Saturday 17 June at Wavell School in Farnborough.
Over 100 individuals joined the team throughout the day: regional competition winners and runners up, coaches, players, parents, Back to Netball teams taking part in the festival, volunteers nominated for ONE Awards, nominators, friends, family and supporters, committee members and England Netball staff.
82 nominations were made in the region with volunteers being put forward in a total of nine categories. These applications were all reviewed by the panel – Nicky Fuller, Joan Mills and Phyllis Avery – before the winners were announced.
115 attendees came to the South West ONE Awards celebration.
2023 saw the highest number of nominations yet with 132 in total.
There was also the introduction of the Netball South West Long Service Award, which saw six individuals recognised, and the introduction of the Netball South West Honorary Life Member Award with a total of 10 individuals recognised.
Linda Andrews (Coach of the Year – Adults) was awarded the Heather Crouch Award.
An exciting addition to the evening was when Claire Carter did a Q&A with Serena Kersten MBE covering everything from NETBALLHer to this summer’s Netball World Cup in Cape Town.
The West Mids ONE Awards enjoyed their biggest year ever – with 73 nominees and a record 286 attendees on the night. They were blessed with beautiful weather at Edgbaston Stadium, which made the balcony drinks reception much nicer looking over the cricket ground! For the second consecutive year, Stafford Walking Netball Club claimed the Club of the Year award – which is believed to be the first time ever that has happened, especially for a non-traditional club this was amazing.
They also aimed to reduce their carbon footprint this year, and elected to print less copies of the programme in exchange for a QR code around the venue allowing people to access the programme and seating plan online. This enabled them to add much more detail to the programme too, including citations about every nominee and a NETBALLHer poster.
After receiving an amazing 103 nominations this year, the region shortlisted each category to a top four who were invited to attend the celebration on Sunday 11 June.
They joined Leeds Rhinos Netball for the second year running, creating a joint celebration of the Yorkshire ONE Awards and the Leeds Rhinos Netball End of Season Awards, held at the incredible Headingly Stadium in Leeds.
Over 40 guests of the region were in attendance on the day and enjoyed getting to watch the Netball Super League Grand Final on the big screens during the dinner!
Within the region, South Yorkshire took home the most awards this year including some outstanding recognition for Sheffield Concord Netball Club, winning the Inclusion Award for their Net4All group and the Young Volunteer of the Year Award going to Ava from the club for her coaching and umpiring contributions to the group.
It was a great experience for everyone to witness the Rhinos awards along with their pathway awards, getting to see the rising stars of the region was great!
To help shine a light on volunteers all year round, we’ve created a bespoke set of assets for the Netball Family to use which includes editable templates to share a sentence about, and show your appreciation for, a volunteer (or volunteers) or empower you to share and inspire others, why you volunteer.
Feeling inspired? Whether you know exactly what you want as a volunteer or are keen to learn more, learning a bit about you will help us signpost you to opportunities we hope you will love! You can also listen to the stories of some volunteers who all volunteer in different ways here.
