Your experiences of nominating someone for an honour, please. Has anyone done this in behalf of a friend or colleague?

[AmersLee]

I really want to do this for someone else who has quietly made such a difference to children, young people and education leaders.

Any experiences much appreciated, successful or not.

Thank you.

No experience but just a thought. How does your friend feel about the Royal Family, the history of colonialism, and everything surrounding honours?

Just because I would refuse if offered. But many people feel very differently to me.

There's a form you complete,

We recommended someone and she was awarded a MBE 3 years later. They need 2 references or did when we did it that cannot be their family member or could benefit from the award

www.gov.uk/honours

Three years! I’ve done it this year on behalf of someone who works very hard for her local community. The form is lengthy but easy to navigate - and you can return to it. Among other things, you’ll need the DoB of the person you are nominating and news cuttings/local council mentions are useful…

I’ve been researching it. There is a good guideline here worth a read. https://honours.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/how-to-nominate/

i think it’s a bit more tricky than I realised, trying to outline how they’ve made a real impact and difference. What they’ve actually done that is special and noteworthy. I think speaking from the heart is important. I’m told it can take 2+ years to be considered. Local contribution is MBE territory and national impact is OBE apparently. Anecdotally if they are outside the south east you are in with a better chance as lots of nominations come from that region. Good luck.

Thanks. I have read the information on gov.uk but more interested in personal experience.

I'm not sure I know enough about their career background either but do have access to public inspection details, progress made etc.

Would I contact the other referees too?

@MJOverInvestor were the nominations successful or were you ‘re’ nominating the same person.

I have done this on behalf of my work, for an employee. Filled in the form (did need some personal information like address etc) outlined their achievements, focussed on charity work, promotion of inclusivity etc and sent off. Asked a few follow up questions about six months later and they were awarded it approx 18 months after the application went in

I've done this. The person concerned did get an honour. I used the advice given in the link above and was additionally advised to

*Describe this person's impact - what we could legitimately say would not exist/have happened if s/he had not done it;
*contribution, with examples, which can be said to go above and beyond what would be reasonably expected from someone doing this role/work
*why recognising their achievement is important in adding to our national lustre and why it would be welcome or is long overdue.
*A brief paragraph summarising your familiarity with them is helpful in showing context at the beginning of the letter.

I have. You need lots of referees prepared to write several pages referring to how great the nominee is and why they should get an award.
I put a lot of work into finding people who had volunteered with, or benefited from the goodwill of my nominee, but my recommendation wasn't acted on - the nominee didn't get an award.

It’s only been eight months - I got an email about six months ago saying that it usually takes 18 months, but whether this is from time of submission or the email I don’t know

It does take quite a while. I nominated someone in Normandy who subsequently got the British Empire Medal
His wife and friends helped me with all the information I needed.
18 months to 2 years.

Thank you for your responses. I am definitely going to look into it further.

I'm a bit disheartened with some of tode I see being honoured (colleagues), when this person deserves it so much more.

What a bloody nonsense. Gareth Southgate ... paid millions of pounds per year, failed miserably. These awards should go to people who give of their time and self for free, some for decades not Gareth bloody Southgate!