WIREDGOV

Community groups across the country have less than a month to beat the deadline and enter The People’s Millions TV contest to secure the chance to win a Lottery award of up to £50,000 to improve their local area.

Community groups will need to enter the contest by the deadline of 12 noon on 15 May. Now in its fifth year, the contest is a partnership between the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) and ITV, which gives the public the chance to choose which local projects receive lottery funding.

Later in the year, shortlisted projects will be screened on their local ITV evening regional news where viewers will be able to cast their vote for the projects they want to win the good-cause cash.

This year the contest will make 69 awards of up to £50,000 across the ITV regions* for projects that will enhance local facilities or help people to enjoy their local area.

Projects that have received funding through the contest have included a community garden and allotment, a tall-ship sailing project, a community bicycle scheme, steelpan classes for young people, a mobile farm, and a scheme providing housing starter packs to the formerly homeless.

The People’s Millions is part of BIG’s commitment to involving the public in deciding how Lottery money is spent. In the last four years, the competition has made 318 awards totalling £18 million to community projects across the UK through the contest.

Entry packs for The People’s Millions are available by calling the hotline: 08450 10 11 12 or by visiting www.peoplesmillions.org.uk

Further Information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of Hours contact: 07867 500 572
ITV Press Contact: James Macleod on 020 7156 7236
Full details of Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• 69 awards are up for grabs including one bonus award in each of the ITV regions.
• *Number of awards per region are listed below:

ITV Anglia (4 winners & I bonus award); ITV Border (3 winners & I bonus award); ITV Central (4 winners & I bonus award); ITV Granada (4 winners & I bonus award); ITV London (4 winners & I bonus award); ITV Meridian (East of region 3 winners & I bonus award and West of region 3 winners & I bonus award); ITV Tyne Tees (3 winners & I bonus award); ITV Wales (4 winners & I bonus award); ITV West (3 winners & I bonus award); ITV Westcountry (3 winners & I bonus award); ITV Yorkshire (4 winners & I bonus award); stv Central (4 winners & I bonus award); stv North (4 winners & I bonus award); UTV (4 winners & I bonus award)

• Since the launch of People’s Millions in 2005, the aim of the contest has been to fund projects that improve the quality of life of local communities through transforming the local environment.
• Telephone voting numbers – As with previous years, ITV and the Big Lottery Fund will use a low cost telephone number. ITV and Big do not make a profit from the voting telephone numbers.
• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out half the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £22 billion has now been raised and more than 300,500 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.