NATIONAL LOTTERY AWARDS FINALISTS REVEALED

After weeks of public voting, the finalists in The National Lottery Awards are now known.

The National Lottery Awards recognise the positive impact that Lottery-funded projects – both big and small – make to local communities. National Lottery players raise £30 million for Good Causes across the UK every week.

There are three finalists in each of the seven categories reflecting the different areas of National Lottery funding: arts, sport, heritage, health, environment, education and voluntary/charity. The 21 finalists are:

Best Arts Project

• The Achieving Something Special project in Northern Ireland provides a creative space for adults with learning disabilities to work in, showcasing their creative arts talents.
• Drumatik is an inclusive community drumming group based in the regeneration area of West Fife, Scotland.
• BALTIC is an international centre for contemporary art in Gateshead.

Best Education Project

• Jubilee Time After Time is a schools-based project in Bath that uses activities to break down prejudices and barriers between older people and younger generations.
• Lifelong Learning at Saltholme on Teesside offers events and activities that encourage people’s enjoyment, understanding and appreciation of wildlife.
• PLUGGED IN magazine was set up to address literacy educational standards in the South Wales Valleys, as well as the need for vocational education in the creative industries.

Best Environment Project

• Community Space Challenge offers young people at risk of offending the opportunity to improve their local community through clean-up and make-over events across England.
• The Watershed Landscape Project is a series of conservation, restoration, education and creative arts initiatives in the South Pennine uplands.
• Harvest Brighton & Hove helps people to grow their own food through training, volunteering and finding more land for community gardens.

Best Heritage Project

• The Bute Park Restoration Project has transformed Cardiff's largest city centre park into a place celebrated by the city’s residents and visitors alike.
• The Curzon Community Cinema in Somerset, which has been operating since 1912, has recently reopened as a historical centre for the local community to enjoy.
• Durlston Castle in Dorset, a key attraction on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, has reinvigorated the local area’s tourism and generated jobs.

Best Sport Project

• Back to Netball encourages women of all ages to take up the sport across England.
• Longridge Activity Centre in Marlow is an innovative outdoor activity centre, enjoyed by people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.
• Wheels for Wellbeing is a charity based in Brixton that promotes disability cycling across south London.

Best Voluntary/Charity Project

• FREEWHEELING @ Adrenaline Alley enables young people in Northamptonshire - including those who are disabled and disadvantaged - to participate in BMX, skateboard, in-line skate and scooter activities.
• Kidz Unlimited provides young disabled people with fun and friendship clubs and camps across the UK.
• New Forest Nightstop provides free short term emergency accommodation for homeless young people aged 16-24 around the New Forest.

Best Health Project

• The Bionic Ear Show, run by national charity Deafness Research UK, is an educational, fun and interactive show that promotes safe listening.

· Be Healthy, a community project near Hastings, strives to ensure that young people are physically, emotionally and mentally healthy.

• The Bogside & Brandywell Health Forum is a healthy living centre in Northern Ireland which has pioneered community-led health improvement since 2001.

The finalists will attend a star-studded awards ceremony in London at the end of the year which will be broadcast on BBC One. The eventual winners in each category will walk away with a coveted National Lottery Awards trophy and a £2,000 cash prize[1] to spend on their project.

Voting in the finals of The National Lottery Awards will open in September.

-Ends-

For further information please contact The National Lottery Awards:

Claire Fleming, 0141 224 1414, claire.fleming@lotterygoodcauses.org.uk

Notes to Editors

[1] NB: This is not a National Lottery grant. All projects have already received Lottery funding and this cash prize is in addition to the National Lottery money they have already been awarded