Guernsey Press

Judging will celebrate the difference

IT’S judgement day for the 2017 Guernsey Press Pride of Guernsey Awards.

Published

Thirty-six judges are gathering at the OGH to make the difficult and final decisions about who will be our winners this year.

Aimed at recognising those heroes amongst us who have a real impact on the lives of so many in our community – either through their love and friendship for others, or their inspirational efforts and standards – they celebrate islanders who might never have qualified for a tribute, before now.

Readers have voted in their thousands for the 36-strong shortlist, from which just 12 individuals or groups will be crowned as the pride of our islands.

It will be a difficult task selecting just one from the three finalists in each of the categories: Emergency Hero (sponsored by Rossborough), Neighbour (Swoffers), Carer (Specsavers), Angel (Ravenscroft), Parish Champion (OCS), Parent/s (The Christies Group), Grandparent/s (The CI Cooperative Society), Young Achiever (Butterfield), Arts Contribution (Moonpig), Teacher (Garenne), Overcoming Adversity (Close Finance) and Welcome (Cimandis Foodservice).

Once the winners have been chosen the focus will shift towards the awards ceremony itself next month, hosted once again by Guernsey’s Jo and Andy Priaulx.

Whilst only year two of the accolades, it is clear the public have embraced them. Yet again almost 200 nominations were submitted, showing just how much our scheme, aimed at plugging a previous major ‘awards gap’, was needed.

Although they never sought the spotlight, last year’s winners have all spoken of how significant receiving such a public endorsement was – some have even said life-changing. Above all there was no competitiveness among our candidates, just a very keen sense of respect and gratitude. Refreshingly, every single finalist felt they had not deserved it, that they were only doing what everyone else does.

But that is clearly not the case and shows the importance of paying tributes of this kind.

Which is why the Guernsey Press, in conjunction with our sponsors, is delighted to continue to organise these awards. Fittingly, they make a real difference to those who make a real difference.

See tomorrow’s Guernsey Press for the 36 who were shortlisted