Nominations for the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) annual Campaigner of the Year award have opened.
The search is on to find 2025’s community champions, with CAMRA members tasked with nominating an individual or group they believe deserves recognition for their campaigning for cask beer, cider, perry, pubs and/or social clubs.
Last year’s winner was beer writer and campaigner Laura Hadland, who was recognised for her work reporting on the Crooked House case.
Heart of a community
Nominations can be made online or by post and the deadline for submissions is Friday 7 February 2025.
CAMRA awards director Laura Emson said: “We want to cast the net as wide as possible, from people who have fought effective campaigns locally or nationally to people in the pub or brewing industries who promote our interests and celebrities or politicians who actively support real ale, cider, perry, pubs and clubs.”
Emson added this year the group has asked people to consider nominating individuals who “embody the heart of a community”.
“This could be someone who has gone above and beyond to build connections within the trade or celebrate all the great ways pubs, clubs, brewers and cider makers make community life fuller, the person or group behind a good news story you’ve seen in the past year, or simply a venue that you think is a really special social hub.
Celebrate campaigners
“Now more than ever, we want to celebrate the campaigners who bring us together and remind us that pubs and beer are so much more than the sum of their parts”, the awards director continued.
The winner of the award will be announced at CAMRA’s 2025 AGM and Conference, set to take place from Friday 11 to Sunday 13 April in Torquay, Devon.
Last month, CAMRA unveiled its Pub of the Year finalists were Preston’s Black Horse Pub, The Three B’s in Bridlington, The Little Green Dragon in Winchmore Hill and Oswestry’s Bailey Head pub. The overall winner will be announced in January 2025.
In addition, its overall Champion Beer of Britain winner was also recently announced, with Crouch Vale Brewery’s Amarillo taking the title.