The Lieutenancy of Orkney

                 

 

The honours system is managed by the UK Cabinet Office Ceremonial Secretariat but each UK Government Department and the Devolved Administrations all have an Honours Secretary to whom you may send a nomination.


In Scotland, since 2007, the First Minister and all other Scottish Government Ministers have chosen to have no role in any part of the Honours process. It is the Civil Service in Scotland who handle Honours nominations, under UK Cabinet Office guidance.


Nomination forms and the full UK Cabinet Office guidance can be found on the Direct Gov website by clicking the link above. The forms and guidance are UK wide and nominations can be made either to the Cabinet Office, whose address appears on the nomination form, or, ideally to;


Honours Secretariat
Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG


Either by post or by email to protocolandhonours@gov.scot

Letters of Support

At least two letters of support are expected and should be from others who have personal knowledge of the candidate.


Ask for letters that:


  • Confirm that the person is doing what they are being nominated for;
  • Confirm that an Honour would be supported by the community;
  • Describe recent achievements;
  • Describe the impact that the person has had; for impact, consider what wouldn’t exist or happen without your candidate’s input and whether what they have done is voluntary or in a paid capacity.


You can include any evidence you have of recognition your nominee has received for their achievements, for example articles, photos or letters.


When must nominations be sent in?


There are no deadlines for nomination forms but the process is likely to take at least 12 to 18 months.


Nominations should be made while the candidate is still active and, if possible, at least 12 months before he or she is expected to retire or stand down.


What makes for a good nomination?

In the end it is the quality of the case that will determine if a nomination is successful, but the following tips may be helpful:


  • Start with a really strong opening sentence, eg, “ x would never had happened without the personal involvement of….”
  • Do not use acronyms, abbreviations or flowery language.
  • Talk about the individual personally rather than their organisation or team (if it ends up being about the team then think about a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service or Queen’s Award for Enterprise instead).
  • Only include information about your candidate’s education or early life if it’s strictly relevant to the nomination.
  • Do not use unnecessary comments such as: “an Honour would be the most appropriate recognition of x’s efforts”.
  • Do not use unsubstantiated comments on performance or other ‘padding’.
  • Use no more than 2-3 recent examples, any more and your citation will look like a CV.
  • Make it interesting to read so that it stands out from the competition.


The most important thing is to provide evidence of what your candidate has done and how they’ve improved matters for others. Tell the story of what has changed because of your nominee and put it into context for a reader who won’t necessarily have detailed knowledge of the subject.


And Finally .....

Do please consider taking just a little time to nominate someone if you believe they deserve recognition. The process is easy to do and can be a really wonderful way of marking the contribution someone has made to life here in Orkney. The Lieutenancy Office and any of the Deputy Lieutenants can help with further advice if you would like it.

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