All Parish Council Clerks and Village Village Hall Secretaries are sent an annual letter, extending an invitation to enter the Northumberland Village of the Year Competition for the relevant year. The competition is organised by the Community Action Northumberland as part of the nationwide Calor Village of the Year® competition.

For the year 2008 the competition assesses communities on four aspects of rural village life:  People, Business, Environment, and Communications.  Entrants are also asked to tell the judges in less than 500 words: ‘What makes your village a special place?’

Entries are by completing an entry form, plus a written page of less than 500 words, telling us: ‘What makes your village a special place?’ (Entries that are over 500 words, or that have failed to attach the entry form, will not be considered.)

The Northumberland Village of the Year competition is open to free-standing settlements with a population of no more than 5,000, located in the historical county area of Northumberland (including Northern Tyne and Wear).

There is no rule that states which organisation in a village should be the lead body in submitting an entry to the competition. We have therefore sent invitations to all parish councils and village halls / community buildings and similar organisations on our database. In some instances invitations will have gone out to more than one organisation in a village. We do ask organisations in such circumstances to liaise with each other to agree whether the village will submit an entry and if so who will be responsible for completing and submitting the entry form. In other instances invitations will have gone out to parish councils that cover more than one village eligible to enter the competition. Again we would ask those councils to liaise with organisations that we may have missed and decide whether an entry is desirable and if so which body in the village would be the most appropriate to complete and submit the entry form. 

Entry forms can be obtained in a variety of ways:

       ·        downloaded from our website -

·        by email – send a request to northumberlandvillageoftheyear2008@ca-north.org.uk

·        by telephoning 01670 517178 and requesting a hard copy.

Entry is, of course, not compulsory but CAN would hope that many communities will find the completion of the questionnaire to be a useful exercise and a form of self evaluation -  and there is always a chance of winning the monetary prize on offer for the winning village.

Entries needed to be posted to Community Action Northumberland, (Northumberland Village of the Year ), Tower Buildings, 9 Oldgate, Morpeth, NE61 1PY by the closing date shown on the entry form.