Heritage Crafts Awards
recognition for master craftspeople and emerging talent
We are open for nominations
Established in 2012, the annual Heritage Crafts Awards are a range of awards each year which shine a spotlight on those individuals who champion heritage crafts skills and trades. We are indebted to our partner organisations who provide funding for our unique suite of awards and bursaries specifically for traditional crafts, and who make this possible.
The Heritage Crafts Awards celebrate and highlight the traditional living crafts made in the UK that contribute to our national heritage, such as silversmithing, dressmaking and tailoring, upholstery, weaving, leatherworking, metalworking, stained glass, green woodworking, embroidery and similar crafts where there is a significant degree of hand skill at the point of manufacture.
- Patron’s Award for Endangered Crafts
- England Maker of the Year
- Northern Ireland Maker of the Year
- Scotland Maker of the Year
- Wales Maker of the Year
- Precious Metalworker of the Year
- Fashion Textile Maker of the Year
- Woodworker of the Year
- Emerging Building Craftsperson of the Year
- Emerging Leatherworker of the Year
- Emerging Upholsterer of the Year
- Emerging Weaver of the Year
- Emerging Green Woodworker of the Year
- Emerging Stained Glass Maker of the Year
- Emerging Embroiderer of the Year
- Emerging Metalworker of the Year
- Trainer of the Year
- Trainee of the Year
- Community Catalyst of the Year
- Lifetime Achievement Award
Before nominating yourself or someone else, we encourage you to take time to read through these important links:
- FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – please read for useful tips
- NOMINATION QUESTIONS – for your reference
- Watch our Live Q&A Session on grants, awards and bursaries recorded on 7 April
Please note that all Awards nominations now use the same nomination form, so you can nominate yourself or someone else for multiple awards all at once from just one form.
To nominate, please click on one of the relevant Awards above
DEADLINE: 5pm, Friday 21 August
Video or audio nominations:
Alternatively, you are welcome to submit a video or audio nomination, addressing all the questions in the form – You can download the questions here. The recording ideally needs to be no more than 15 minutes in length, then emailed to Rae at [email protected].
Nominate yourself or someone else
Patron’s Award for Endangered Crafts
England Maker of the Year Award
Northern Ireland Maker of the Year Award
Scotland Maker of the Year Award
Wales Maker of the Year Award
Precious Metalworker of the Year Award
Fashion Textile Maker of the Year Award
Woodworker of the Year Award
Emerging Leatherworker of the Year Award
Emerging Upholsterer of the Year Award
Emerging Weaver of the Year Award
Emerging Green Woodworker of the Year Award
Emerging Stained Glass Maker of the Year Award
Emerging Embroiderer of the Year Award
Emerging Metalworker of the Year Award
Trainer of the Year Award
Lifetime Achievement Award
Community Catalyst of the Year Award
Trainee of the Year Award
Emerging Building Craftsperson of the Year Award
Message from HM The King
“As Patron of the Heritage Crafts Association, I am delighted to endorse this new awards scheme which supports and rewards excellence in the heritage craft sector.
Crafts are such a vital part of our British heritage and I have always been passionately concerned to promote the best aspects of our country’s traditions ― and, equally importantly, to enable these highly specialised skills to be transferred from one generation to the next.
These new awards for heritage craft celebrate excellence across the sector in a variety of ways. They reward those who give so much by volunteering to support the many different crafts, those who pass on their skills, those who wish to improve their craft skills and those who continue to produce great British craft.”
Previous award winners
Owen Bushell, Millwright
Lorna Singleton – Oak swill basket maker
Nikki Laird, Kilt Maker
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#matchMAKER opportunity!
Trainee Curtain and Blind Maker
Location: Berkeley, Gloucestershire
The Boys Who Sew provide premium soft furnishing services to some of Britain’s best interior designers. They offer an end-to-end experience, which includes measuring, making, and installing, and including curtains, blinds, cushions, tracks and poles and upholstery. They sew for some of the finest public and private properties throughout the land.
The Boys Who Sew are seeking a Trainee Curtain & Blind Maker to join their growing team of soft furnishers at their workroom set in the beautiful Granary in Berkeley Castle Estate in Gloucestershire. The successful candidate will be assisting Curtain Makers with hand-sewing high-end soft furnishings.
Training will be provided. You should have good hand-eye coordination, a solid work ethic, an ability to maintain consistent standards, high levels of attention to detail and a pride in making things.
Find out more including how to apply at https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/matchmaker.
#matchMAKER is the online platform for work-based training and entry-level employment opportunities hosted by @heritagecrafts and supported by @soanebritain.
“Beyond the Algorithm” a provoking panel hosted by @theforgespace for @londoncraftweek. @heritagecrafts Head of Craft Sustainability, Mary Lewis (@maryeluned_craft), spoke alongside, chair @rachaeltaylorgram (Journalist & author), tf_chan (Director of @collectartfair), @karinpaynter (craft strategist and advocate) and @rajeshgognasilver (silversmith and design academic, De Montfort University).
What happens to the value of handmade work, when more and more can be generated, rendered and simulated? As AI and digital culture continues to reshape how we see, make, buy and value things, this is a question every designer, maker, craft-led business, enthusiast and buyer should be thinking about.
The panellists explored why real space, real skill and real presence may matter more, not less, in this moment.
Thank you so much to @theforgespace for hosting us we had a wonderful time contributing to this discussion.
#londoncraftweek #algorithm #craft #heritagecrafts
#matchMAKER opportunity!
Heritage Trainee – Traditional Building Skills
Location: Stratford-upon-Avon
Deadline: 7 June 2026
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is looking for a Heritage Trainee (Traditional Building Skills) to join its Conservation Building team. The role is project-funded through support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) and the Michael Bishop Foundation.
As Heritage Trainee you will develop practical skills and foundational knowledge in the conservation, repair and maintenance of historic buildings under supervision from the Conservation Building team.
To be successful in this role, you will be interested in heritage, traditional building crafts, or construction, and willing to learn new skills and follow instruction. You will be able to work safely and use tools responsibly, and be confident working in public-facing environments and outdoors.
Find out more including how to apply at https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/matchmaker.
#matchMAKER is the online platform for work-based training and entry-level employment opportunities hosted by @heritagecrafts and supported by @soanebritain.
At our Living Legacies reception last week, the Heritage Minister Baroness Twycross said:
“These crafts are vital to the identity, pride and cohesion of communities, and recognising them is only the first step. Next year, we’ll be launching a full public consultation to set our safeguarding priorities. Please do get involved. Share your insights so we can best safeguard heritage craft for the next generation.
“I’d like to pay particular thanks to our hosts here today. Heritage Crafts was so integral to the UK formally ratifying the 2003 UNESCO Convention. It’s only through collaboration between the private sector, government, the third sector and interested organisations, that we can truly ensure a sustainable future for heritage crafts.”
Following UK ratification of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Baroness Twycross’s department have created a new Living Heritage in the UK Inventory and commissioned Heritage Crafts as one of eleven Community Support Hubs to help members of the public list their living heritage practices.
@dcmsgovuk @londoncraftweek @theleathersellers @saddlerscompany.saddlershall
🚨 Patron’s Award for Endangered Crafts increases to £5,000!
This award, now increased from £3,000 to £5,000, is supported by Heritage Crafts’ Patron HM The King and the @kingcharlesfund. It will be awarded to an esteemed practitioner of an endangered craft whose proposal makes the best use of the funds to secure the survival of that craft.
Eligible crafts are those categorised as ‘endangered’ and ‘critically endangered’ in the Red List of Endangered Crafts 2025 edition (see heritagecrafts.org.uk/redlist).
Judges:
• @katehobhouse, Deputy Chair of Fortnum and Mason
• @patricialovettcalligraphy MBE, Past Chair of Heritage Crafts and Secretariat of the APPG for Craft
• Lulu Lytle OBE, Founder and Creative Director of @@soanebritain
• Deborah McGuire @plainstitchdeb, quiltmaker and winner of the 2025 Patron’s Award
• Dr Simon Sadinsky, Executive Director of Research, Impact and Learning at the @kingsfoundation
The judges will put forward a shortlist of three for final selection by HM The King.
Previous winners:
• Deborah McGuire, 2025 – quiltmaking in the frame
• Gail McGarva BEM, 2024 – wooden boatbuilding
• @lucybarlow.hats, 2023 – straw hat making
• Johanna Welsh, 2022 – pargetting
• Dr @rebecca_struthers, 2021 – watchmaking
• @ernestwrightltd, 2020 – scissor making
Former Heritage Crafts Chair Patricia Lovett MBE has once again kindly donated £1,000 as a grant to the runner-up.
📅 Deadline: Friday 21 August 2026 (at 5pm)
➡️ To apply, visit https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/opportunities/awards or via the linktr.ee in our bio.
At our Living Legacies reception last week, the Lady Mayor of London Dame Susan Langley said:
“I talk a lot about opportunity, but not everyone is academic. You give opportunity to those who can move forward with a livelihood that they perhaps didn’t think was possible. And thanks to your efforts, we are creating those living legacies across all of these crafts for years to come.”
Dame Susan has set up a Heritage Crafts Taskforce during her year in office, which we have been an active part of, to help create lasting change for support for heritage craft skills within the City.
@londoncraftweek @theleathersellers @saddlerscompany.saddlershall
#londoncraftweek #london #heritagecraft
Heritage Crafts at the Cutty Sark during @londoncraftweek ⚓️
When we talk about heritage, we usually think about buildings, monuments, museum objects and historic vessels like this one.
We think about the things we can touch and see.
But the most important part of our heritage is actually invisible. It is the know-how in the minds of the makers.
If we preserve the Cutty Sark but we let the skill of ship building die out, we have lost the ability to ever build another one.
We have lost a piece of human ingenuity.
A ship without a rigger, or a sail without a sailmaker, is just a dead object.
But when those skills are alive, the ship is a living thing.
Thank you @royalmuseumsgreenwich for hosting a weekend of Heritage Crafts.
#heritagecrafts #londoncraftweek #maritime
Wonderful to catch up with current Heritage Crafts Emerging Weaver of the Year @leonie.textiles demonstrating all this week at @roseuniacke as part of @londoncraftweek. The collaboration is raising funds for Heritage Crafts through the sale of Leonie’s weaving.
Rose Uniacke have generously supported this award for the past three years, and the 2026 award is now open for nominations via our website. They have also supported our work to safeguard traditional craft skills with profits from their Remnant Weave project.
Thank you so much Rose Uniacke and well done to the hugely talented Leonie!
