Gathered on stage proudly holding aloft their Pride of Gedling Awards trophies, it is a picture capturing what is now impossible due to the current Covid-19 climate.
Gedling Borough Council’s annual celebration of the outstanding local work from people, businesses and communities will look very different this year as the ceremony moves online.
The event will take place on Tuesday, November 3 at 6pm and this year and will be held virtually for the first time through Facebook live and on Microsoft Teams.
Originally planned to take place in March 2020, the event was postponed at the last minute due to the coronavirus pandemic. The council wanted to ensure it continued to recognise individuals and communities across the borough and that it was important that the event still went ahead.
Shortlisted nominees across the six categories have been invited to join the digital event awards celebrations, which will be broadcast live on the council’s Facebook page for anyone to watch.
In each category there are at least three shortlisted nominees, and there are also, for the first time this year, some special judges’ awards due to the high standard of entries.
Smooth Radio Presenter, Gareth Evans, will be the compere for the evening, introducing the award nominees before winners are announced by the category sponsors.
This year’s awards are in association with Keepmoat Homes who, for the second year, have kindly agreed to be the awards main sponsor.
As well as the standard awards, there is also an overall Pride of Gedling Award and Lifetime Achievement Award which both recognise individuals who have provided an outstanding contribution to the borough. The Mayor of Gedling, Councillor Sandra Barnes, will present the Overall Pride of Gedling Award and Leader of Gedling Borough Council, Councillor John Clarke, will announce the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The awards this year are:
- The Community Hero(es) Award
This award recognises inspirational individuals or groups, from any walk of life, who have gone that extra mile, or above and beyond their role, to help others or to make life better in their community. - The Dylan Barker (Young Person of the Year) Award
This award celebrates young people, under the age of 21, who make an outstanding contribution to their communities. - Business in the Community Award
This award recognises the businesses which play a role in supporting their community. - Outstanding Community Project Award
This award is open to any project or group which helps our local communities and improves the lives of those who live in them. - The Environmental Hero Award – New for 2020
This award celebrates any individual, group, school, club, organisation or business in the borough that have made a positive impact on either; conservation, the environment or community spaces. - The Inspirational Healthy Lifestyles Award – New for 2020
This award celebrates any individual, group, school, club, organisation or business in the borough that have made a positive impact on health and/or wellbeing in the borough.
Leader of Gedling Borough Council, Councillor John Clarke said: “This year has been incredibly tough so far, so we think it’s absolutely vital that we make sure our residents and communities don’t feel forgotten and we continue to recognise these fantastic people.
“These awards are one of the highlights of our year here in Gedling and when we had to postpone the event back in March we made a commitment to finding an alternative way to show our communities how important they are to us and how proud we are to have these people as our residents.
“This year is going to be very different, but I’m seeing it as an opportunity, usually we’re limited to the number of guests we can host at the event but with us streaming the event onto our Facebook page it allows us to share the event for more people to enjoy.
“2020 has certainly been a bumpy road for many so far so I’m sure a great event like this will be a fantastic morale booster for many. ”
