Crowd Cymru wins the 2026 ARA Archive Volunteering Award
Imaging starting a new job and winning an award in the first few weeks…
I’m Steph, the new #CrowdCymru Digital Volunteering Project Officer working alongside Jen Evans, who many of you will know from past blogs. And we were thrilled to share that Crowd Cymru has won the 2026 ARA Archive Volunteering Award!
It’s been a whirlwind! Of course, the award is nothing to do with me, but it’s testimony to the fantastic work #CrowdCymru has been doing over the last year – and a sign that I’ve joined a stellar team!
What is the ARA Archive Volunteering Award?
This annual award recognises work involving volunteers in an institutional archive service in the UK or Ireland. It celebrates the role of volunteers in supporting archive services, and shares good practice case studies with the wider sector.
The news was a huge boost to us, and a fantastic way of honouring the contributions of our volunteers. Jen, who has been steadily building up our team of volunteers since 2022 said ‘I am very proud of the community we have all built together. Our diverse and wonderful volunteers never cease to amaze me with their enthusiasm, work ethic and friendliness.’
The feeling is obviously mutual. In a recent survey of our volunteers, 96% said contributing to the project improved their wellbeing, and Jen got lots of special mentions for being such a supportive, friendly and approachable Project Officer. When you’re working with volunteers – especially remote volunteering – these are the things that make all the difference!
The volunteers also appreciated taking part in something that’s intellectually stimulating, and which has helped develop their digital skills.
One of the judges noted, ‘I thought the inclusiveness of the model is worthy of praise as well as the thought given to the challenges of remote volunteering – remote volunteering is very different to the in-person model with specific challenges for staff.’
What we do
Crowd Cymru is a Welsh Government funded digital crowdsourcing project for Welsh archives. We support a team of 120 volunteers to help make items in Welsh archives easier to search and discover digitally.
Since 2022, our volunteers have transcribed and tagged over 6000 pages of archival material, including historic photos of Cardiff’s dockland community, posters and ephemera from the Gwent Lesbian and Gay Group, and the wartime diaries of Priscilla Scott-Ellis, a socialite and volunteer nurse during the Spanish civil war.
Our volunteers are not working on routine tasks – they make skilled and valuable contributions that directly enriches the data held in our archives, making a lasting legacy for Welsh heritage. And because the project is fully remote, people from diverse communities and locations can take part.
This helps remove some of the barriers associated with travel, cost, mobility, inflexible work schedules or caring responsibilities – a lesson we learnt during Covid, but which sadly a lot of organisations have already forgotten.
Building our national story
Alan Hughes, Crowd Cymru’s Project Lead, and Head of Special Collections and Archives at Cardiff University, said ‘It’s a privilege to work with people and communities across Wales and the world to help us protect, celebrate and grow our national story as one connected team. We are all absolutely delighted with this recognition by the archives sector in the UK and Ireland.’
By building digital skills and offering wellbeing benefits, the project has broadened the social impact and relevancy of archives, and extended our engagement with new audiences. Heledd Fychan MS, Cabinet Minister for Culture and Sport, described it as ‘a strong example of how investment in culture and digital engagement can deliver lasting benefits across Wales, ensuring that Wales’s story truly belongs to everyone.’
To find out more, visit the ARA website, and make sure to follow us on Bluesky or our new Instagram account. That’s it for now – we’re off to celebrate!
