The Awards

Community Medics, Greater Manchester Life Saving Awards

The Greater Manchester Life Saving Awards celebrate people who stepped in and helped when it really mattered. Some actions take seconds. Some take courage. Some take kindness, patience, or staying with someone when things feel frightening or uncertain. What they all have in common is this: someone chose to act.

These awards recognise those moments, and the people behind them.

You don’t need to be a professional.
You don’t need special training.
You don’t need to think what you did was “a big deal”.

If an action helped save a life, protect someone from harm, or change the outcome of a serious situation, it deserves recognition.

Eligibility & Important Information

To make sure the awards are fair, safe, and respectful, a few simple guidelines apply:

Who can be nominated: The nominee must be a Greater Manchester resident or the incident must have taken place in Greater Manchester.
Time period: The action must have taken place between 1 January 2024 and 31 July 2026.
Consent & privacy: All finalists and winners must give consent to be involved in publicity. Special care is taken with nominations involving young people.
Evidence: We don’t expect formal proof. A short explanation, witness statement, or supporting confirmation (where available) helps us understand the story.
Safeguarding: The awards programme has a named safeguarding lead, clear procedures for under-18s, and guidance to ensure stories are shared safely and respectfully.

The awards are led by Community Medics CIC, with care, dignity, and community at their heart.

Bystander CPR Hero Award

This award recognises someone who took action during a cardiac arrest.

It could be someone who started CPR, used a defibrillator (AED), called for help, or helped coordinate the response until emergency services arrived. Many people who act in these moments have never done it before, they simply stepped forward and tried.

This award is about courage, quick thinking, and choosing to act rather than stand back.

Life Saving Teamwork Award

Emergencies are often handled best together.

This award is for groups who acted as a team in a critical situation, friends, colleagues, sports teams, school staff, families, or community groups who worked together to help someone in danger.

It recognises shared responsibility, communication, and people supporting one another when it mattered most.

Young Life Saver Award (Under 18)

This award celebrates young people who showed bravery, care, or leadership in a difficult situation.

It could involve first aid, CPR, getting help, supporting a friend, speaking up about a safeguarding concern, or staying with someone until help arrived.

Age does not limit impact, and this award exists to recognise the powerful role young people can play in keeping others safe.

Wellbeing Intervention Award

Not all life-saving actions are physical.

This award recognises compassionate interventions that helped prevent serious harm or loss of life, such as talking someone through a crisis, supporting someone in distress, guiding them to help, or staying with them during a critical moment.

It honours listening, kindness, presence, and the courage to step into emotionally difficult situations.

Gift of Life Award

This award recognises stories connected to giving life beyond an emergency moment.

It may relate to organ donation, blood or platelet donation, stem cell donation, or fundraising and support that enabled life-saving treatment. It can honour individuals, families, or communities whose generosity helped give someone else a future.

These stories often carry deep meaning, and they deserve to be told with care and respect.

Community Recognition Award

Some people quietly make communities safer over time.

This award recognises sustained contribution, teaching CPR, campaigning for defibrillators, volunteering, leading community first aid, supporting wellbeing, or helping others gain the confidence to act in emergencies.

It’s about long-term impact, commitment, and making lifesaving skills part of everyday life.