Awards
Merseyside Civic Society makes a number of awards to individuals, organisations and projects that are deemed to make a significant contribution to the heritage and civic life of Liverpool City Region . Winners receive a framed certificate designed and produced by a local artist.
Merseyside Civic Design Awards
These Awards focus on high quality projects that enhance our shared experience of the places that surround us. Inaugurated in 2023 to mark the 85th anniversary of Merseyside Civic Society, any project completed between 1st August 2018 and 31st July 2023 within Liverpool City Region was eligible for nomination.
The winners of the 2023 Merseyside Civic Design Awards
Joint Best New Build Project
The Lighthouse Church by shedkm
Joint Best New Build Project
LJMU Student Life & Sport Buildings by Sheppard Robson
Best Conservation Project
The Municipal Hotel by Falconer Chester Hall
Highly Commended Conservation Project
India Buildings by Falconer Chester Hall
Best Landscape Project
West Kirby Flood Alleviation Scheme by AECOM
Best Cultural Project
Future Yard by Architectural Emporium
Best Small Hospitality Project
40 Renshaw Street by SDA Architecture
Best Large Hospitality Project
INNSiDE Liverpool by Corstorphine & Wright
Best Community Project
The Old Library by OMI Architects
Wellbeing Award
The Spine by AHR Architects
Organised by MCS Vice Chair and Civic Voice Trustee, Andrew Jackson, the Awards were judged by:
Mathew Giles
Director, MGMA Architects & Co-Director, Liverpool Architecture Foundation
Martin Hamilton
Chair, Civic Voice & Director, Leeds Civic Trust
Professor Sally Stone
Programme Leader for MA Architecture and Adaptive Reuse, Manchester School of Architecture
The next Civic Design Awards take place in 2026. Full details available following the Spring launch with nominations open during early summer.
Felicity Wren Award for Public Art
The Felicity Wren Award for Public Art was a new award from MCS, organised by our Vice Chair, Andrew Jackson for the first time in 2024. It is named in memory of Felicity Wren (1948-2019) and assessed recent public artworks in Liverpool city centre, where Felicity lived and where she ran her popular Domino Gallery for many years. Felicity was also an active member of the MCS Council, where she worked with Andrew to deliver a forerunner to the Merseyside Civic Design Awards over a decade ago. For the 2024 Felicity Wren Award, artworks created within the last five years were assessed.
The awards were judged, and then presented at the MCS AGM in November 2024 by Bryan Biggs, Director of Cultural Legacies at the Bluecoat.
The 2024 winners were:
Best New Mural – ‘Katerina Johnson-Thompson’ by Paul Curtis
Best New Sculpture: ‘The Runner’ by Faith Bebbington
The next Felicity Wren Awards will be made in 2027 with murals and sculpture throughout Liverpool City Region eligible for nomination
Rita Cheesman Award for Heritage Interpretation
Rita Cheesman was a pioneering Blue Badge Guide who did much to interpret the heritage of Liverpool and the wider City Region for residents and visitors alike. She died in the Autumn of 2012 and her family donated funds which Merseyside Civic Society used to establish an award to promote heritage interpretation in the city region, which, it was felt, deserved more attention and a better record of achievement. The first awards were made in 2013 and the next awards will take place in 2028.
2024: Open Eye Gallery, dot-art and The Mersey Forest for ‘Tree Story: A History of Liverpool City Region through its trees‘
2023: Richard MacDonald and Emma Copestake
2020: Dr Richard Moore and Liverpool City Region Blue and Green Badge Guides
2019: Wirral History & Heritage Association, and, The Friends of Anfield
2017: Conservation Areas, Wirral
2015: West Kirby Museum
2013: Harriet Gilmour, New Liverpool City Region Blue Badge Guide