National lottery

The National Lottery operator is asking the public to nominate National Lottery retailers who have gone ‘above and beyond’ for their community 

Allwyn is offering cash rewards to over 100 National Lottery retailers who have been recognised for the important roles they play in communities.

With £140,000 in total up for grabs, the National Lottery operator is asking members of the public to nominate their favoured retailers under the new ‘Local Retail Champions’ initiative.

Retailers can be supported for community-led efforts such as delivering groceries to customers unable to reach the shop, sponsoring a local sports club, organising litter-picking sessions, or widening aisles to accommodate wheelchair users.

The cash prizes available include £5,000 each for two winning local retailers. They will also receive a store makeover worth £20,000, which will help the shop to “do more for its customers, community or environment”, such as funding energy-efficient fixtures.

There will also be 16 regional winners rewarded £5,000 each – which can also be donated to their preferred local charity – and a £100 cash prize given to 100 runners-up.

It marks the first time the National Lottery has launched such an initiative.

Working with Reach, the UK’s largest commercial news publisher, ‘Local Retail Champions’ will be promoted across a wide range of consumer-facing national and regional publications and websites, and the competition will be supported on National Lottery retailers’ in-store media screens.

Retailers can also spread the word about the competition face-to-face with their customers and encourage their shoppers to vote for them via their store social media channels by directing them to the campaign website, with Allwyn providing guidance to retailers on this. 

The initiative is being paid for with money from Allwyn’s dedicated Social Value Fund, which is an annual £1m the company has committed to using to support operating the National Lottery in an environmentally and socially responsible way. This year, Allwyn is using a portion of the fund to reward and recognise the important role its retail partners play in communities across the UK and Isle of Man. 

Allwyn CEO Andria Vidler said: “Retailers are the heart and soul of their communities. By selling tickets, we have more than 40,000 National Lottery retail partners helping us to raise an average of over £30m each week for National Lottery-funded projects. But they also support their local areas in many other ways.  

“That’s why we are delighted to launch the Local Retail Champions campaign, through Allwyn’s Social Value Fund, which will recognise those National Lottery retailers who go that extra mile to give back to their communities. We can’t wait to see all the fantastic stories and urge every one of our retail partners to share details of the campaign with their customers and get involved – as there are some brilliant prizes up for grabs.”