NOMINATIONS for the 2025 Pride of Jersey awards are due to open next week as the event marks its tenth anniversary.
The community event, which is organised by the Jersey Evening Post, aims to honour individuals, charities and other organisations that go the extra mile.
Hundreds of Islanders are nominated each year in one of 14 categories, from doting grandparents and committed teachers, to helpful neighbours and all-round angels.
Nominations for the 2025 event are due to open on Thursday 10 July.
Last year saw a record-breaking 315 nominations and 33,289 public votes received between them. The most popular categories for nominations in 2024 were Customer Service Employee of the Year and Volunteer / Fundraiser of the Year.
Following the public vote, shortlisted finalists in each category will be invited to a glittering ceremony in October to hear the winners announced. Winners are picked by a panel of judges.
Each winner will receive a prize worth £1,000 from the category sponsor.
The Gary Burgess Award will also presented to a community champion, with winner of the special award chosen by members of the media and the late presenter and journalist’s loved ones.
This year’s event is supported by joint main sponsors DFDS and Jersey Post.
Former JEP deputy editor Carl Walker, who set up the awards in 2015 to mark the newspaper’s 125th anniversary, praised the success of the event a decade on.
“The fact that the awards are now reaching their tenth year shows just how dearly Islanders value each other,” he said.
Mr Walker added: “From a personal perspective, I am very proud that the awards continue to be a success. It took a great deal of work and team effort to get the ball rolling, and there is clearly no stopping it now.
“I always knew there was a space in Jersey to celebrate the true champions of our Island’s community and, to date, we must have had thousands of Islanders nominated and hundreds of award winners.”
James Filleul, chief executive of All Island Media, the parent company of the JEP, said: “Each year [Pride of Jersey awards] gets better and better, and that is testament to the truly special people we have in this Island – most of whom don’t look for any particular recognition.”
Mr Filleul continued: “It is our opportunity to say ‘we see you’ – that the work they do, and the people they are, is valued, and it means a lot to all of us. It’s so easy to forget what we have here in Jersey, but Pride is a chance to remember why we all choose to call this our home.
“Whatever is going on in the wider world, or in our own lives, it’s a great reminder that there is so much to value all around us; that you don’t have to look that far into our community to discover character, leadership, courage and inspiration.”
