Honours & Awards

Honours are granted to those people who have made a difference based on their merit, bravery, or exceptional service. Quite simply, those deserving high-achieving people from every section of the community; the person that goes the extra mile; the person that makes life better and safer; the charity worker; those who have undertaken public service; and to business leaders.

Many people assume that honours are awarded at the direction of the Lord-Lieutenant, however this is not so. Honours go to people who have been nominated by members of the public. 

“If you know of an individual who is making a significant difference in her or his community and who stands out from all others in the same field, please do nominate that person for an honour!”


Go to https://www.gov.uk/honours or Google “Nominate someone for an honour” and go to the GOV.UK website.

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Investitures

Seven Merseyside recipients of honours were awarded the medals at an investiture recently.  Interviewed here are some of them talking about what it meant to receive an individual honour; Firstly we hear from Rob O’Connor OBE, then Junior Frood BEM and then Sally Ralston BEM.

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The Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside is particularly keen to encourage community and business leaders to help him identify individuals that are worthy of receiving an Honour. Equally, the Lieutenancy is keen to encourage nominations from parts of the community where in the past nominations have been few and far between. 

Anyone can make a recommendation for a British national to receive an honour. However, you cannot nominate someone for a specific honour as this is decided by an Honours Committee within the Cabinet Office.

When making a nomination please do remember to include all the good works performed by the nominee, not just the primary reason. A further important ingredient is to source and submit several strong letters of recommendation from people who know at first-hand about the work which has caused the nomination to be made.

See what being awarded the BEM meant to one recipient, Lin Doyle >>

The Lord-Lieutenant presented a BEM to Ms Erin Harvey on behalf of HM The Queen in Liverpool Town Hall on 22nd July 2021. In attendance (far left) supporting the presentation was Mr Peter Woods and the Lord Mayor (on the Lord-Lieutenant’s left) – Councillor Mary Rasmussen. Erin Harvey is from Croxteth and works for the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO). She is currently stationed in Bogota, Colombia with her husband who is a British Diplomat. Erin had the opportunity to return to the UK for a week to visit her family before giving birth to her child and the FCDO requested that the Lord-Lieutenant present her with the BEM. Erin was joined by members of her family.

Honours lists are published twice a year; at New Year and on The Queen’s official birthday (normally the second Saturday in June). Recipients of Honours receive their awards from The Queen or a member of the Royal Family at a ceremony known as an Investiture.

The process of making a nomination is not difficult, and help is readily available from the Merseyside Lieutenancy if you are not sure what to do.