The people of Grantham and across South Kesteven are being urged to nominate local heroes for an upcoming award ceremony.

South Kesteven District Council has launched the SK Community Awards to celebrate the district's community champions.

With multiple categories, the SK Community Awards are designed to shine a light on the people and organisations who go above and beyond to help others and make a real difference to their communities.

The ten awards range from celebrating youth initiative to helping the environment, business contributions, supporting culture, boosting wellbeing and neighbourliness, plus special Volunteer of the Year and Community Group of the Year awards judged from category winners.

There is also a special 'Beyond the Call of Duty' Award, dedicated to SKDC officer Neil Smith who died at the age of 40, and which reflects his actions in using CPR to save the life of his 11-month-old son Tommy following a cardiac arrest.

Cllr Annie Mason (pictured), Cabinet Member for People and Safer Communities, said: "The last year has shown how many people and organisations spend their time tirelessly helping others and rallying together to make a real difference in their communities.

"Our awards will celebrate the wonderful work of those community champions and all the many unsung heroes in our district.

"I urge everyone to nominate that group or individual in their community who they feel deserves recognition for the difference that they make."

The awards, to run every year, are being launched during national Volunteers' Week (1-7 June), building on the council's initiative with its Community Hub which was opened when the district first went into lockdown.

The Hub established a strong network of charities, organisations and volunteer groups providing support through the pandemic. Last year many received 'Local Hero' certificates to recognise their efforts and now SKDC plans to take that recognition to another level in a celebration of people's support for others.

A person or organisation can be nominated for more than one award with nominations closing on 18 July. The winners will be announced in September.

All nominees will be recognised with a certificate commending their efforts, and the winners will receive a commemorative award.

The first award is The Neil Smith 'Beyond the Call of Duty' Award: for recognising exceptional actions.

The second is The Lifetime Community Champion Award: for a life given to public service.

The third gong is The Helping Hand Award: for recognising individuals' actions in their community.

Another is The Community Cultural Action Award: for enthusing and encouraging others in their creativity.

The Cleaner and Greener Award: will be for demonstrating pride in local appearance and cleanliness.

The Community Wellbeing Champion Award: honours those for helping mental and physical fitness.

The penultimate award will be The Business in the Community Award: for celebrating business community contributions.

The final category to nominate someone in will be The Inspirational Young Person Award: recognising contributions from Grantham under 25s.

To make your nomination (or indeed, nominations) online, please head to this link here.

Anyone who would like to submit a paper copy of the nomination form should contact [email protected] or call 01476 406161.

Once you have received a paper nomination form, they should be posted to: SK Community Awards, South Kesteven District Council, St Peters Hill, Grantham NG31 6QZ.

Do you know someone in Grantham to nominate? Or know somebody that should nominate someone?

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