Community stars to be honoured at BBC Essex awards

A special awards evening is due to celebrate people who have been a force for good where they live.

Thirty-one people, groups or animals have been nominated across eight categories at the BBC Essex Make a Difference Awards.

The winners will be announced during a ceremony in Hatfield Peverel on Thursday evening.

This is the full list of the nominees:

• Loraine Coleman, from Grays, for her community work at ReEngage Thurrock
• George Duke set up an over-60s club in Stanford-le-Hope
• Karen Campbell, for her voluntary work at a Girlguiding group in Coggeshall
• Emma Cornwell runs a porch pantry in West Mersea

Judged by Olympic boxer Lewis Richardson

• Underdog Crew supports misunderstood, disadvantaged and vulnerable young people in Colchester
• Colchester Blanketeers create blankets for patients on palliative care at Colchester Hospital
• Brightlingsea WinterFest is a festival that encourages people to banish the winter blues by engaging in arts and creative activities
• Community Embrace is a food charity helping people in Harlow to feed themselves

Judged by BBC Morning Live presenter Sheree Murphy

• Chris Phillips, the Echo newspaper's chief sports reporter in Southend, raised more than £36,000 in 2024 for a mental health charity
• Rhys and Cai Atkinson, aged eight and seven, from Hatfield Peverel, held a cake sale and raffle to raise money in memory of their best friend who died
• Georgie Vincent set-up The Finley James Fund to create memory boxes and packs for bereaved hospitals in Essex
• Simon Foxen, from Thundersley, gets his friends to dress up as superheroes and appear at places to raise money

Judged by actor Lenny Rush

• Polly, from Brentwood, is one of three people in the world with a rare form of juvenile idiopathic arthritis
• Jack, 15, managed to get a bus route reinstated after gathering more than 800 signatures to a petition in St Osyth
• Daisy-Mae, from Loughton, has selective mutism and managed a speech about what life is like for her

Judged by Jade Packer (Electro from Gladiators)

• Trevor South relayed his neighbour's patio in Leigh-on-Sea from scratch after she was widowed in 2020
• Lisa Strong, from Walton-on-the-Naze, runs three community choirs to help people fight loneliness, depression or who love singing
• Jane and Mark Harvey, have helped their Grays neighbour with hospital appointments, making dinner and walking their dogs.
• Lisa Bryant, from Aveley, helps an elderly neighbour with trips to hospital, cutting her hair and organising gardeners, carers and trade workers for her

Judged by TV presenter Dominic Littlewood

• Dave Chase runs football sessions for people struggling with their mental health in Chelmsford
• Sheryl Wheatland, from Harlow, takes her Sweat fitness groups to people who may not usually be able to access them
• Aaron Tyler runs Feelgood Wellness Centre for people of all abilities in Basildon
• Debbie Holme has run Essex Dance Theatre for 50 years, helping young people in Chelmsford to get active

Judged by Paralympic athlete Anne Wafula-Strike

• Tom Haward is an eighth-generation oyster farmer in West Mersea, who is fighting to protect the county's oysters
• Harwich Litter Pickers connects isolated people by getting them together to clean-up the town
• Wickford in Bloom adds flowers and trees to the High Street
• Eco Essex Rehome, Reuse and Repurpose encourages people living in the county to do exactly what its name suggests

Judged by TV personality Lydia Bright

• Oscar is a therapy dog for students with special educational needs in Grays
• Valencia has assisted her Colchester-based owner, who is a wheelchair user, for seven years and can fetch items such as water bottles
• Essex Therapy Dogs visit staff at Broomfield Hospital to brighten their day
• Kelly Butler helps injured or endangered animals in Epping Forest

Judged by BBC Breakfast weather presenter Carol Kirkwood

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