As a previous winner of County Durham’s Environment Awards reminisces on receiving an award 30 years ago, groups and individuals are being reminded there’s just one week left to nominate.
Three decades ago, Maggie Bosanquet, who is now Durham County Council’s climate change team leader, entered her newly formed environment group, Darlington Environment Watch, into the very first County Durham Environment Awards. She was delighted to be awarded a commendation in the Environmental Care category for the group’s work, which included tidying one of the town’s ponds and categorising and recycling the rubbish collected.
She said: “Little did I know back then I would end up working for the council all these years later but to win that award was so reassuring and such a phenomenal recognition for our newly formed group. We were awarded £100 which, back then, was a lot of money and we used it to set up a newsletter to raise awareness of what we were doing.
“I’m thrilled to still be part of these awards 30 years later and would encourage anyone to apply.”
Entries close on Friday, 19 July and nominations are being sought in the following categories:
- Built Environment
- Climate Change
- Community Partnership
- Craftmanship
- Greener Business
- Natural Environment
- Places and Spaces
- Schools and Colleges
- Volunteer Group of the Year
- Volunteer of the Year – Under 18
- Volunteer of the Year – Over 18
- Management
To mark this special 30-year milestone, a touring exhibition, showcasing interviews with key figures, will explore the past three decades of the awards and how it has evolved into County Durham’s foremost environmental accolade.
The exhibition will be showing on the following dates:
- Monday, 17 June to Thursday, 25 July – County Hall
- Wednesday, 31 July to Thursday, 29 August – Bishop Auckland Town Hall
- Tuesday, 3 September to Tuesday, 10 September – The Witham, Barnard Castle
- Tuesday 1 October to Monday 21 October – Hardwick Hall Visitor Centre
Previous green achievers will join this year’s nominees at a ceremony at Hardwick Hall Hotel in Sedgefield on Wednesday, 23 October.
Visit www.countydurhampartnership.co.uk to find out how to make a submission. Contact the team at environment.awards@durham.gov.uk or on 03000 265 545 for more information. The closing dates for applications is Friday, 19 July.
People are invited to share their memories of the awards, past and present, by using the hashtag #EnvAwards30 on social media.
The awards are organised each year on behalf of the County Durham Environment Partnership and aim to work with organisations and communities to improve the natural and built environment in County Durham.
