Nominations for a prestigious green awards, which are in their 30th year, can still be made following an extension of the deadline.

People can now nominate individuals, projects or groups for the County Durham Environment Awards up until Friday 2 August.

The awards are organised each year by Durham County Council on behalf of the County Durham Environment Partnership with the aim of celebrating organisations and communities which improve the natural and built environment locally.

Steve Bhowmick, the council’s environment and design manager, said: “We’ve already had some great entries come in, but as this is the thirtieth year of the awards, we want 2019 to be bigger and better than ever before.

“That’s why we’ve chosen to give people an extra couple of weeks to nominate those individuals, projects or groups they think should be recognised for their green work and we’d encourage everyone to do exactly that.”

Entrants can be made 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

• Waste Management

Anyone can nominate a person or scheme in any one of these categories.

Visit www.countydurhampartnership.co.uk/envawards to find out how or email environment.awards@durham.gov.uk or phone 03000 265 545.

To mark the 30-year milestone, a touring exhibition will explore the past three decades of the awards and how they have evolved into County Durham’s foremost environmental accolade.

The exhibition, featuring interviews with key figures from those 30 years, can be seen between the following dates at the following places:

• 31 July-29 August – Bishop Auckland Town Hall

• 3-10 September – The Witham, Barnard Castle

• 1-21 October – Hardwick Hall Visitor Centre

Previous green achievers will join this year’s nominees at the awards ceremony at Hardwick Hall Hotel in Sedgefield on Wednesday 23 October. The touring exhibition will be present for ceremony attendees to view.

People are being invited to share their memories of the awards past and present on social media via the hashtag #EnvAwards30.