The Champions Awards 2021: “and the winners are…”

Following the Awards ceremony on Friday 22nd, everyone who took part was warmly thanked:

The Champions Awards 2021: “Thanks to everybody” – Sustainable Sidmouth Champion Awards

Now the official results have been announced.

Firstly, there are the winners and runners-up as chosen by the panel of judges, made up of Cllr Chris Lockyear, STC Vice Chair; Professor Brian Golding, represented at the Awards ceremony by Richard Eley, President of the Chamber of Commerce; and Chris Woodruff, Manager of the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

  • Community Award Winner: Di Fuller (Sid Valley Help)
  • Community Award Runner Up: Woolbrook News
  • Resilience Award Winner: Kyle Baker Photography
  • Resilience Award Runner Up: Sidmouth Primary School
  • Sustainability Award Winner: Sidmouth Plastic Warriors
  • Sustainability Award Runner Up: Fillfull Shop, Sidmouth

Because of the many excellent nominations received, the Vision Group decided to make some additional awards, which are:

  • Chairman’s Award: Sidmouth Voluntary Services
  • Highly Commended: Sid Valley Practice
  • Special Mention: Thomas Franklin

VGS Chair Peter says, “The response to the Champions Awards far exceeded our expectations, and showed the enthusiasm throughout our community for recognising the major role volunteers played during lockdown, to keep the wheels turning on so many new fronts.”

Peter Murphy, chair of the Vision Group for Sidmouth, presents the Chairman’s Award to Frances Newth, president of Sidmouth Voluntary Services. Photo credit: Tony Spooner ARPS, President of Sidmouth Photographic Society

“Taken across the three awards categories (Community, Sustainability, Resilience) some key themes emerged which seemed to summarise the ways in which people responded to the new challenges of our times:

“Retailers adopted and provided online ordering, with safe click-and-collect; they boosted stocks and services, and organised outside eating and takeaway services.

“Across the whole health and welfare, education and wellbeing areas, all rose to the challenge of learning how to use video technologies to make the transition to online classes, in order to maintain group entertainment and cohesion.

“On the other hand, society and special interest groups continued to organise social meetups outdoors.

“And when it came to sustainability, the nominees organised groups of volunteers to clean our streets and beaches, providing collection points for soft plastics; and many adopted repackaging in recylable materials and encouraged the reuse of existing packaging through wide-ranging refill services.

“Event photography was kindly provided by Tony Spooner ARPS, President of Sidmouth Photographic Society. We expect to receive his selection of photographs early in the coming week, and look forward to sharing them all.”

See also:

Vision Group for Sidmouth reward community champions | Sidmouth Herald