The East London Community Heroes Awards took place last night online
The Rotary Club of Stratford organised the East London Community Heroes Awards which took place last night, virtually on Zoom.
Good Hotel London, Forest Gate Community Garden and Lola’s Homeless were among the winners.
Categories included Business Community Partnership, Community Cohesion, Response to Covid-19, and Improving access to Services.
There were 22 judges to mark across the nine categories.
The President of the Rotary Club, Himanshu Jain said: “The aim of the awards is to uncover the hidden stories that happen all around our community.
“People are doing a lot of good work in the communities but we don’t get to hear about them.
“It comes down to us as citizens of this country to keep on doing the good work, keep on recognising and keep on motivating other people to do the same. I think that’s why it’s very important.”
This year saw a surge in nominations with double the amount, compared to 2019’s first year of the awards.
Four extra categories were added.
Himanshu said: “We had about 60 entries which is amazing, that’s 60 groups doing so much good work in East London. Of those, we shortlisted 31 in the nine categories and that was down to the judges.
“We have a panel of 22 judges from across the industries including from Queen Mary’s University, Southampton University, Westminster University, and from local businesses such as City Airport, McDonald’s, as well as from outside businesses.”
“Each category was looked at by at least five and at most seven judges. They provided their scoring based on the criteria provided.”
“I think this year’s awards have been a real eye-opener for us, in that people are still going on despite everything that’s been going on around us. There are still community groups going on and doing so much good work, that it’s amazing to see the amount of work happening around us.”
The full list of winners are:
Business Community Partnership- Good Hotel London
Community Cohesion- PL84U AL-SUFFA
Response to Covid-19- Alternatives Trust East London
Improving Access to Services- Thames Ward Community Project
Environmental Sustainability- Forest Gate Community Garden
Health & Wellbeing- Newham All Star Sports Academy (NASSA)
Community Hero of the Year- Emdad Rahman, East End Covid Network
Community Group of the Year- Lola’s Homeless
Young Community Hero of the Year- Shanea Kerry Oldham, Your Life More Life
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