Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office honours nomination form
Use this honours form to nominate someone who lives or works abroad.
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You can use this form to nominate someone for an honour if they live or work abroad and they’ve made achievements in either:
- another country
- the UK, and their achievement has a significant international element to it
Guidance on completing the form
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) honours nomination form should be used to nominate candidates for an honour on the Overseas and International Honours List which recognises exceptional service performed overseas, or service in the UK with a substantial international component.
You should never tell a nominee that you are considering nominating them for an honour.
The list is made up of substantive awards for United Kingdom citizens and citizens of a Commonwealth country of which HM The Queen is Head of State. Dual nationals are also eligible for substantive awards where one of the nationalities qualifies for a substantive award.
There are two lists a year: New Year Honours and The Queen’s Birthday Honours. Nominations may be submitted at any time, but the final deadline is usually mid-May for the next New Year’s Honours and mid-November for the next Birthday Honours Lists.
Honorary awards can be made to citizens of other countries where there is clear evidence of direct and intentional service to the United Kingdom. They do not appear on the Overseas and International Honours list, but are instead published on GOV.UK as and when they have been formally approved by the Sovereign. They are considered at the same time as nominations for the Overseas and International Honours List and are therefore subject to the deadlines set out above.
If the Honorary award recipient lives outside the UK, you should use the FCDO nomination form. If they live in the UK you should use the Cabinet Office nomination form and submit this to the Cabinet Office.
Royal, Ceremonial and Honours Unit in the FCDO will acknowledge receipt of a completed form within two weeks of receipt. We are unable to notify nominators of the outcome, or to give progress reports.
Please complete all the boxes on the nomination form. If you do not know the answer to a question, or cannot get the answer without great difficulty or alerting the nominee, please insert N/K. Please type your answers and submit your form and accompanying letters of support by e-mail to the address given on the form. If you have any trouble with the form or submitting it, please contact: Honours.Secretariat@fcdo.gov.uk.
Notes
If your candidate is a State servant in a foreign government or currently working for an international organisation, they will not be eligible for a UK honour.
Please insert all the nominee’s current citizenships or nationalities. If the nominee holds more than one nationality or citizenship, please say which countries and, if possible, the date (or year) of acquiring each nationality.
Please insert the nominee’s date and place of birth, if possible. This helps for identification and record-keeping purposes.
Please describe the services for which recommended, for example “improving education for disadvantaged children in …”.
Nominator’s suggested award level: there are different levels and types of awards. A general guide on level is:
| K-level | international or major national achievement/impact requiring commitment over a long period |
|---|---|
| C-level | international or prominent national achievement/impact |
| OBE | national or prominent regional achievement/impact |
| MBE | regional or local significant and long-term achievement/impact including service to the community |
| BEM | local achievement/impact service to the community, sometimes of shorter duration (eg 4 years) |
If you are aware of any previous nominations for the candidate, or any other award, please indicate the year and the list. Any further nomination must include evidence of further exceptional work/service/achievement since the previous nomination to stand any chance of success.
Please give the details of any British or foreign honours already held by the candidate with the year of award (if known). Check GOV.UK, Who’s Who, or The London Gazette if necessary.
Please insert the nominee’s home address, telephone number and e-mail address. We need to contact successful candidates within a very tight timeframe, so this information can be crucial.
It is important to realise that an honour will not be automatically recommended following a nomination. Please give a full description with detailed examples setting out precisely what the candidate has done that is truly exceptional and, when nominating a non-UK national, how the contribution directly and intentionally benefits the UK or specific British or Overseas Territory interests.
Include for how long they have been, or were, performing these services, whether paid or unpaid, and what specifically makes them worthy of recognition by means of a national honour. The examples must be recent (there must be evidence of recent sustained service and/or achievements) and relevant to the case for an honour.
Please bring out the exceptional and excellent nature of the achievement and/or service the candidate has performed and how their work has benefitted the UK/Overseas Territory, reflected credit on the UK or contributed to furthering Britain’s interests overseas or to the FCDO’s international priorities.
It is important to describe the impact and the difference that the candidate’s contribution has made in a particular field, locality or community as well as detailing the challenges and difficulties faced and how overcome, including any difficult or dangerous environments. Please say why he/she is special, what makes the candidate stand out from others doing similar work and the regard in which held by peers.
For all nominees, we recommend giving details of previous career highlights to describe service and achievement over a sustained period. Please include information of any particular considerations concerning the timing of an award.
The honours committees like to see comments/support from a wide range of relevant sources such as experts in the field or professional bodies. Letters of support from relevant organisations or individuals can strengthen the nomination. The committees like to know why someone supports a nomination, so do ask them to include this but keep the letters to one or two pages maximum. Please send any letters of support (ideally two). If there are more than two letters of support Royal, Ceremonial and Honours Unit will select the two which seem to best support the nomination.
Sending the completed form and supporting documents
Please send the completed form, together with any supporting documents, by email direct to Royal, Ceremonial and Honours Unit in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office to: Honours.Secretariat@fcdo.gov.uk.
You will receive acknowledgement of receipt within two weeks.
Last updated 6 May 2021 + show all updates
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Update to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office honours nomination form.
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Honours nomination form updated
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Updated Foreign and Commonwealth Office honours nomination form added
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First published.