The Sir Terry Wogan Award recognises BBC Children in Need fundraisers who have shown creativity, commitment and inspiration while raising money for the charity. It was created as a tribute to the charity’s Life President, Sir Terry Wogan. It is an award in his honour and is presented every year on the annual telethon show.

Michael Ball said: “It is a huge honour for me to take the helm of The Sir Terry Wogan Fundraiser of the Year Award on Radio 2. All the fundraisers for BBC Children in Need are brilliant and we thank every single one of them, but this award means we can discover those superheroes who go even further and deserve extra special recognition of their work. It is such a wonderful tribute to the legacy of the late, great, Sir Terry.”

Helen Thomas, Head of Radio 2, said: “Terry holds a very special place in our listeners’ hearts so I’m thrilled that, for the first time, Radio 2 will be launching The Sir Terry Wogan Fundraiser of the Year Award. Michael Ball is an incredible champion for those who put others before themselves and I’m so proud he’ll be leading the way for this award on the network. We encourage all our listeners to send in their worthy nominees.”

Mark Wogan said: “My father - as are we as a family - would be delighted about Radio 2’s support for The Sir Terry Wogan Fundraiser of the Year Award 2021. He always knew it was the dedicated army of fundraisers who were the beating heart of BBC Children in Need, a charity so close to his own heart. We’re so happy Michael Ball is taking up the mantle this year. Dad loved Michael and so do we.”

The public are asked to nominate a person or people they feel would be a worthy recipient with the winner selected by a judging panel which this year includes Sir Terry’s son, Mark Wogan, Michael Ball, and Peter Davey (Appeal Show Executive Producer), Claire Hoyle (Director of Fundraising, CiN) and Emma Douglas (Senior Executive, CiN Supporter Care Team). This year’s nominations are open from Sunday 17 October and close at 11pm on Sunday 31 October 2021. Entries can be submitted at www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey, which also gives further information and full terms and conditions and privacy notice.

Across what has been an incredibly difficult 18 months, there have been some hugely inspiring fundraising feats, and none more so than the incredible Captain Sir Tom Moore. The war veteran appeared on Michael’s show to talk about his little family challenge to raise £1,000 for health service charities by walking 100 lengths of his garden before his 100th birthday at the end of that month. His efforts then went stratospheric and when his fundraising page closed at midnight on his birthday, he had raised more than £32m. There followed a knighthood, RAF flypast to mark his birthday and personal greetings from the Queen and prime minister. And he became the oldest ever person in the UK to get a number one single, when his and Michael Ball’s cover of You'll Never Walk Alone topped the charts.

Further information on Radio 2’s Children in Need fundraising campaign for 2021 will be announced in due course.

The inaugural award in 2016 was presented to 11 year old Lauchlan who, in his sixth year of fundraising for BBC Children in Need, performed as a living statue in shopping centres across Central Scotland. The following year, the award went to Ellie and Abbie Holloway who had fundraised for the charity for many years and, in 2017, took on a 50 mile walking challenge. In 2018, the award went to long time fundraiser Keeley Browse who put on annual charity gala nights for the whole community. In 2019, siblings Austin and Esther, who undertook Quadrathlons, were awarded the accolade. Austin has muscular dystrophy, but is passionate about supporting other children and had in recent years, alongside his sister, raised over £6,000.

In 2020, long-term supporter Brian Pitt was surprised live on air. Thirty years ago, his son, Stuart, tragically died the day before his 18th birthday. Whilst Stuart was in hospital, he’d placed a collection tin outside his door and told people they had to make a donation to BBC Children in Need before they could go in. After he passed away, Brian decided to carry on fundraising in his son's memory and has raised an astonishing amount for the charity over the years.

As Life President of BBC Children in Need, Sir Terry Wogan made a real impact upon millions of young lives across the UK. He became Life President in 2010, having been involved with the charity since 1978. In 1980, he presented the first BBC Children in Need telethon on television and hosted every Appeal show until 2014. With over £800 million raised whilst Sir Terry was at the helm of the charity, it has changed lives from Shetland to Jersey, from those living with disability or illness, through to those facing bereavement, poverty, abuse or neglect, and continues to make a real difference.

Sir Terry first presented the morning show on Radio 2 from April 1972 until 1984, when his three times a week chat show, Wogan, launched on BBC One. He returned to Radio 2 in 1993 as host of Wake Up To Wogan, presenting the show until December 2009. Weekend Wogan aired on Sundays from February 2010 until November 2015.

Radio 2 has a long history of mammoth fundraising for BBC Children in Need. From money-can’t-buy auctions in the Radio 2 Breakfast Show to 2020’s Joe Wicks 24 Hour PE Challenge which raised over £2.5 million. This followed in the footsteps of Rylan who in 2020 undertook a The Great Ka-RY-oke 24 hour Challenge, helping Radio 2 raise over £2m for BBC Children in Need. In 2018 the network’s Good Morning Sunday presenters Rev. Kate Bottley and Jason Mohammad took on a swimming challenge in the cold waters of Salford Quays.

Also last year, the station brought together some of the most iconic global artists for the official BBC Children in Need single, a reimagined cover of Oasis’ Stop Crying Your Heart Out (BBC Radio 2 Allstars). Performers included Cher, Clean Bandit, Mel C, Jamie Cullum, Jess Glynne, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Lenny Kravitz, Kylie Minogue, Gregory Porter, Nile Rodgers, Jay Sean and Robbie Williams and many more. The single, curated by Radio 2’s Head of Music, Jeff Smith, was recorded and filmed by artists in locations across the world and was produced by Grammy award winning producers Mark Taylor and Brian Rawling.

BBC Children in Need’s vision is that every child in the UK has a safe, happy and secure childhood and the chance to reach their potential. The charity will realise this vision by supporting, promoting and publicising work that addresses the challenges that children and young people face and work that builds their skills and resilience. BBC Children in Need is currently supporting over 2,500 local charities and projects in communities across the UK that are helping children and young people facing a range of disadvantages such as living in poverty, being disabled or ill, or experiencing distress, neglect or trauma. Further information on BBC Children in Need can be found at bbcchildreninneed.co.uk

BBC Radio 2 is the UK’s most listened to radio station, with a weekly audience of 14.4 million (RAJAR Q1, 2020), and won Station Of The Year at the Music Week 2021 awards. The network’s presenters include Michael Ball, Zoe Ball, Tony Blackburn, OJ Borg, Rev. Kate Bottley, Ken Bruce, Craig Charles, Dr Rangan Chatterjee, Fearne Cotton, Sara Cox, Jamie Cullum, Gary Davies, Vanessa Feltz, Paul Gambaccini, Bob Harris, Ana Matronic, Cerys Matthews, Jason Mohammad, Trevor Nelson, Paul O’Grady, Dermot O’Leary, Mark Radcliffe, Rylan, Liza Tarbuck, Jeremy Vine, Johnnie Walker, Jo Whiley, Claudia Winkleman and Steve Wright.