Local leaders, community groups and town councils across Sedgemoor are being encouraged to consider entering Let’s Celebrate Towns 2026, a nationwide competition that hands winning towns £20,000 towards a community project of their choice, alongside recognition at a national awards ceremony in the Houses of Parliament.

Now in its fourth year, Let’s Celebrate Towns is a joint initiative between Visa and Nationwide, set up to recognise the communities helping build stronger, more vibrant local economies. Rather than judging towns on size or profile, the competition shines a light on the ideas, partnerships and local pride that are genuinely helping high streets and town centres thrive.

Entries are welcomed across five categories: High Street Revival, celebrating towns that have brought empty shops and spaces back to life; Backing Local Business; Protecting Valued Places; Connected Places; and Community Pride. One winner will be selected in each category, each receiving £20,000 to put towards the community project or initiative nominated as part of their entry.

The competition is open to MPs and local leaders, local authorities and town councils, and community groups and organisations, with towns needing a population between 5,000 and 225,000 to be eligible, a range that comfortably includes towns across Sedgemoor.

Since launching, Let’s Celebrate Towns has supported 22 towns across the UK. Past winners include Ramsgate Space in Kent, which used its 2025 grant to establish a town centre base and business support programme that has since helped more than 50 local businesses find and secure premises, and Boscombe, whose 2024 win helped launch “We Are Boscombe”, an independent placemaking brand now visible across its high street. As Louise Brooks, Executive Director of Ramsgate Space, put it: “Let’s Celebrate Towns genuinely helped set us on a different trajectory.”

For any Somerset town with a project or initiative already underway, or an idea waiting for the right backing, this is a genuine chance to secure significant funding and national recognition in one go.

Entries open on Monday 17 August 2026 and close at 23:59 on Sunday 25 October 2026.

Enter now: https://www.visaeupromotions.com/lets-celebrate-towns-visa-nationwide/#enter-form