Life-changing £50k up for grabs! How would you spend it?

The scheme launched by the Big Lottery Fund in conjunction with UTV will see a total of £22k in awards distributed throughout Northern Ireland.

Organisations and groups are encouraged to enter their ideas for projects aimed at supporting their communities and helping those in need for a chance to win £50,000 to make them a reality.

Past winning projects include families working together on healthy eating by growing vegetables together, the transformation of run down patches of land into children’s play areas, and environmental projects which have improved employment prospects or helped people in need help themselves.

The most worthy causes will be voted for by the communities themselves with a final four bagging the Big Lottery Fund cash of £50k each.

Now in its seventh year, The Peoples Millions awards funding to projects that improve the lives of local people throughout the UK.

This year there are four awards of up to £50,000 on offer in each of the 19 ITV regions.

The competition opens for entries today (13 March 2013) and a shortlist of the best ideas will be selected in October. The groups then have around a month to get their communities behind their proposals before they are showcased on UTV in November.

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The groups that get the most support through a telephone vote will win the funding to transform their plans into a reality.

Big Lottery Fund NI Chair, Frank Hewitt said: “The People’s Millions is a fantastic way to make a difference in your area, whether it’s tackling a local problem or issue, or responding to a need for a service or support in a particular part of your community. The public will vote on who gets the money, so the ideas need to capture people’s imaginations and persuade them to vote.

“It’s a huge amount of fun and a great chance to put your community on the map and mobilise support for something you care about. I would encourage everyone passionate about where they live to think about how to spend £50,000 and send us their ideas as soon as possible!”

Michael Wilson, Managing Director, UTV Television said: “UTV is once again delighted to be associated with the People’s Millions. Four projects will be awarded £50,000 each for their initiative which is a fantastic achievement for all concerned. We look forward to featuring each of the nominees on UTV Live in November.”