Pride of Guernsey winners chosen after 18,000 votes

More than 18,000 public votes were cast across the 13 categories.

This whittled the groups down to shortlists of three.

The shortlisted individuals and groups have been contacted, and details will be published shortly.

At a lunch yesterday a panel of three judges for each category chose the winners.

Nichole Culverwell was helping to judge the Channel Islands Co-operative Grandparent of the Year category.

‘They were all fantastic,’ she said.

‘It’s never easy to choose the winner, as by the time it gets to this stage, it is really hard. I’m so pleased the Guernsey Press has been able to put the awards on.’

Tom Robertshaw was helping to choose the Moonpig Arts Champion.

‘There’s a story in every one of the shortlist,’ he said.

‘I think this year has brought out a lot of interesting activities in the arts, as a way to keep people positive. Arts was a way to support the community.’

Guernsey Press editor Shaun Green said it was not easy to choose from among the shortlisted individuals and groups and he was glad there was a team of judges covering each category.

‘There are some wonderfully inspiring and heart-warming stories across all the categories and it cannot be easy to choose who wins each class,’ he said.

‘There is a real GuernseyTogether spirit, which has been a part of island life this year, and that has permeated across all the Pride of Guernsey categories, which is brilliant to see. This is a great way to say thank-you for everyone’s care and hard work, under very difficult circumstances.’

While winners have been chosen, Mr Green said all the nominees were very worthy of recognition and he was glad the Guernsey Press was able to shine a light on some of these hidden stories.

The overall winners will be announced at a special awards evening at the Guernsey Press offices on Saturday 3 October. There will be coverage on social media and in the newspaper.

n The shortlisted nominees will be named in the paper on Tuesday.