'Let’s Celebrate Towns' Returns for 2026
Visa and Nationwide launch national competition spotlighting the UK’s high streets and communities
When to Apply: Entries welcomed from Monday 17 August. Deadline is Sunday 25 October 2026.
Categories: Towns can enter across five categories: High Street Revival, Backing Local Business, Protecting Valued Places, Connected Places and Community Pride.
Prize: Each winning town receives a £20,000 grant towards community-led projects and initiatives that give local businesses a boost.
Awards Presentation: Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Parliament on 14 December 2026.
How to Apply: For details on how to apply, click here.
Let's Celebrate Towns Launch Video
Building on three years of success, this year Visa has partnered with Nationwide to launch Let’s Celebrate Towns 2026: a national showcase of the towns helping local businesses and communities to thrive.
Visa and Nationwide want to hear stories from across the UK on the following five categories:
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High Street Revival
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Backing Local Business
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Protecting Valued Places
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Connected Places
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Community Pride
ATCM are encouraging our practitioner members to share their success stories to be in with a chance of winning. The competition will run from Monday 17th August to Sunday 25th October 2026 with entries then shortlisted before being judged across the five categories.
This year’s competition comes at a moment of renewed national focus on local pride. Through its Pride in Place Programme, the Government is investing up to £5.8 billion in nearly 300 communities across the UK, empowering local people to build stronger communities, create thriving places and take control of their neighbourhoods’ futures. Let's Celebrate Towns, run by Visa and Nationwide, shares that ambition, shining a light on the local innovators, community leaders and businesses driving renewal and investing in the health of their high streets, so the best ideas can spread across the nation.
Since launching in 2023, Let’s Celebrate Towns has recognised more than 30 towns across over a dozen counties, investing £20,000 in each winning town, and allowing community projects up and down the country to grow and thrive. In 2025, winners in Ramsgate, Gosport, Morecambe, Swanley, Malton and Norton, and Wallsend, showed innovative ways to drive good growth in their towns and bring local ambitions to life.
Rob Cameron, Group Country Manager, UK & Ireland, Visa, said: “Our towns and high streets are the beating heart of our communities, our economy and, for many of us, the place we call home. Up and down the country, businesses, community groups and local councils are doing amazing things for their towns. We launched Let’s Celebrate Towns to showcase and support the people and places driving positive change in their local areas, because growth starts at home, on high streets up and down the country. We are delighted to partner with Nationwide to deliver the 2026 competition.”
Mandy Beech, Group Director of Retail Services, Nationwide, said: “Through our Branch Promise, we are proud to have a strong presence on high streets. Our ‘Towns Fund’ partnership with Visa is already making a real difference in local communities - funding defibrillators and bleed kits in branches, providing Speak Easy cards to help customers communicate with us, and delivering digital lessons to help people build confidence online. Let’s Celebrate Towns is the next step in that partnership, recognising the people and organisations who go the extra mile to support their local communities. We look forward to hearing your town’s story.”
Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief Executive, British Retail Consortium, said: “Retailers sit at the heart of every town and high street, providing jobs, investment and a sense of community. Having partnered with Visa on Let’s Celebrate Towns since its earliest years, we have seen first-hand the difference it makes when local success stories get the recognition they deserve. We are delighted to see the competition return for 2026 alongside an exciting new partnership with Nationwide, and would encourage towns across the country to put themselves forward.”
Let’s Celebrate Towns 2026 is a competition independently judged and open to residents of the United Kingdom aged 18 or over, who are members of the Local Authority, Town Council, BID or relevant organisations of the Town. Entries must be received between 00:01 on 17 August 2026 and 23:59 on 25 October 2026 inclusive. A maximum of one entry per town per category during the competition period is permitted.
A Town is defined as an area with a population between 5,000 and 225,000 based on the ONS built-up areas population distribution.
For full terms and conditions, click here.
