North East Voluntary and Community Sector Awards 2008

Nominate a star!

30th October 2008 will see the first ever Voluntary and Community Sector Awards for the North East region. The awards are designed to recognise the work of individuals and voluntary and community sector organisations from across the region, in helping to develop our communities.

They will cover a wide variety of areas and activities, and will include:

• Most exciting project of the year
• Volunteer of the year
• Outstanding organisation of the year
• Support organisation of the year
• Young leader of the year

These awards can be made to any voluntary and community sector groups or individuals working in the North East region.

Anyone can make a nomination for an award. People or organisations can make as many nominations as they like, and can nominate their own staff and volunteers for individual awards, but cannot nominate themselves for an organisational or project award.

Go to www.vonne.org.uk/awards for a nomination guide and form and return it to VONNE's offices by 5pm on Tuesday 30 September.

The Guardian Charity Awards 2008

Deadline: Friday 1 August 2008

The Guardian Charity Awards set out to showcase best practice among small and medium-sized charities and help them win the profile and funding they need to move forward.

The awards are aimed at charities delivering practical solutions to present-day problems. So long as the objective of your charity is improving social wellbeing in its broadest sense, and provided other entry criteria are met, nothing is ruled out. The five winning charities will each be awarded:

• £6,000 prize money;
• A brand new PC, donated by Trams;
• A half-day consultancy session plus follow-up support for up to six months on strategy, impact, governance, leadership, campaigning or collaboration, courtesy of NCVO's new consultancy service;
• A tailored package of media services from Media Trust (comprising a session with a top media or communications professional through Media Matching service; and places at Speedmatching events with volunteers and a Media Trust training event).

Download an application form from http://society.guardian.co.uk/voluntarysectorawards

Amazing victory for young north east panner

Jenny Gilberg, aged 21, entered this summer's national Pan Explosion Steelpan competition for the first time... and won the solo section outright! Not only did she win, but she won by the highest margin in the history of the competition, over 60 points out of a possible 300!

Jenny represented North Tyneside Steelband at the event organised by the British Association of Steelbands and held this year at the Fairfield Halls Croydon on May 31. The competition celebrates the achievement of steelpan players aged 30 or under, and kickstarts the summer season for the UK's steelpan players. In the whole nine year history of Pan Explosion, winners have always been from in or around London.

For more information about steel panning visit www.northtynesidesteelband.org.uk.

Making Music nurtures young classical talent

Making Music has announced the winners of its annual award for young musicians, the Philip and Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists (AYCA). Established in 1961, AYCA has helped to launch the careers of many young musicians. Previous celebrated winners include tenor Ian Bostridge, pianist Philip Fowke, and cellist Steven Isserlis. The award enables young musicians at the start of their career to gain vital solo and recital experience. The scheme also allows Making Music's members, themselves voluntary music groups, to tap into some of the very best young musical talent at a subsidised cost.

The 2008 winners are:

• James Barralet (cello)
• Jessica Chan (piano)
• Stephanie Corley (soprano)
• Erica Eloff (soprano)
• Sara Deborah Struntz (violin)
• James Willshire (piano)

Former AYCA winners, Elizabeth Watts and Jonathan Lemalu, went on to join Radio 3's prestigious New Generation Artists scheme, which is for musicians of considerable talent.

The Making Music award also recommends a small number of artists in a 'highly commended' category. The 2008 Recommended Artists are Anna-Liisa Bezrodny (violin), Dimitris Dekavallas (guitar), Sibila Konstantinova (piano) and Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin). Jennifer Lee (piano) was awarded the Raymond Fox Bursary, which was established by Making Music to assist young musicians with further training.

For more information contact Sarah Rogers, Head of Membership Services, at sarah@makingmusic.org.uk or by phone at 0870 903 3780.

Beacon Fellowship on the Lookout for UK's Charity Champions

Deadline: Thursday 1 May 2008

The Beacon Fellowship Charitable Trust has put out a call for nominations for the 2008 Beacon Prize. The Trust is urging people throughout the UK to nominate individuals who have made a significant charitable contribution in giving time, money or skills to a specific cause. With awards in 5 categories and additional regional prizes for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the winners will be invited to attend a gala evening in London where the overall prize winner will receive £30,000 to donate to the charity of their choice.

If you would like to nominate someone for the Beacon Prize 2008, please visit www.beaconfellowship.org.uk for a nomination form or e-mail: enquiries@beaconfellowship.org.uk or tel: 020 7203 8290.

AWARDS FOR YOUNG MUSICIANS: 2008 AWARDS DEADLINE PENDING

DON'T MISS OUT ON THE CHANCE TO GET HELP WITH MAKING MUSIC!

If you are an outstanding young musician (aged 5 to 18) and you need help with your music costs our Awards programme might be able to help you.

We support young instrumentalists, making music in any genre, who can clearly show:

• That they are really talented and committed
• That they need financial help with their music expenses

If that sounds like you then you can apply for an Award of between £200 and £2000.

To find out more and to obtain application forms:

Visit www.a-y-m.org.uk
Email awards@a-y-m.org.uk
Call 0117 9049906
Or send an A4 SAE (with a Large letter stamp please) to:

Awards for Young Musicians
PO Box 2754
Bristol BS4 9DA

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: FRIDAY 4 APRIL 2008

Charity Awards 2008

Deadline: 14 March 2008

Nominations are invited from arts organisations for the annual Charity Awards in the arts, culture and heritage category. The Awards recognise and celebrate exceptional achievements in the leadership and management of charities of all sizes throughout the UK. The Awards are a great way to boost morale and winners get extensive media exposure which greatly helps influence funding applications.

To submit your entry visit www.charityawards.co.uk. Please note the deadline for entries is 14 March 2008.

Grainger Town named best urban neighbourhood

The historic Grainger Town area of Newcastle has won the Academy of Urbanism's 'Great Neighbourhood' Award 2008 at a ceremony on 9 November.

The Georgian quarter of Newcastle city centre beat competition from London's Soho and Dublin's Temple Bar. The NewcastleGateshead Quayside was also named as a finalist in the 'Great Place' category. The streets around Grainger Town were named some of the greatest in England by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment in May. Grey Street, headed by Grey's Monument, has also been named 'Best Street in Britain' by BBC Radio Four listeners.

NewcastleGateshead Initiative, Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council representatives were at the ceremony in London where the winners of the Urbanism Awards 2008 were announced.

Philip and Dorothy Green Awards

All talented young musicians embarking on their professional careers are invited to apply for this prestigious scheme whose prize is performance engagements with Making Music's member groups (some criteria apply of course).

Application forms are available to download from www.makingmusic.org.uk or by emailing ayca@makingmusic.org.uk. Auditions take place at the Royal Academy of Music in London between 11 and 15 February 2008.

Awards for Young Musicians

Awards for Young Musicians invests £50,000 a year in talented musicians in the UK. Awards vary between £200 and £2000 and are available to young people aged 5 to 18 to contribute towards expenses such as teaching, course fees, travel and instrument purchases.

Applicants are required to:

• have achieved distinction in their last music exam, or, if they haven't taken exams, show evidence of this level of ability;
• be recommended by their music teacher;
• have their families show evidence of financial need.

Application forms for 2008 awards are available from October 2007 from www.a-y-m.org.uk.

Culture Awards 2007

The Journal is now welcoming nominations for their Culture Awards 2007. The new annual awards aim to recognise outstanding North East cultural contributions from performances to playwrights, events to exhibitions, musicians to museums, artists to actors.

To nominate, or for further information visit http://www.journallive.co.uk/cultureawards.

The Culture Awards 2007 will be held at Northern Stage, Newcastle on Monday, 31 March 2008.

(Article taken from Culture North East Bulletin)