Local Hero Awards 2020: Last chance to enter

Nominations close on September 18.

Time is running out to make a nomination for the Edinburgh Local Hero Awards 2020.

Nominations close on September 18 at 5pm, and finalists will be announced in print and online on Friday September 25.

There are 18 categories for the awards, and nominations can be made at www.edinburghlocalhero.co.uk.

The Inspirational Young Adult category aims to recognise a young person aged 16-24 who has shown exceptional drive and determination for a cause, belief or individual in the face of adversity.

The award is sponsored by Amazon.

Rachel Seaward-Simpson, Site Leader at Amazon’s Customer Service Centre in Edinburgh, said: “Supporting the local community in Edinburgh is very important to us and I am delighted that Amazon is sponsoring, for the second year, the Inspirational Young Adult Award.

"These awards recognise the many people in our community whose actions, achievements, courage or bravery have touched the lives of others.”

The Junior Local Hero Award, sponsored by Farmer Autocare, will recognise the achievements of a youngster under the age of 14.

They may have overcome great odds or made sacrifices above and beyond the call of duty.

The nominee may have excelled academically, achieved great sporting success, raised money for a good cause, or provided great support to someone with an illness or battling through a traumatic experience.

Sponsor Farmer Autocare said: “We are delighted to once again support the Local Hero Awards. It’s always a real privilege to rightly honour the incredible dedication of people that are improving lives across our local community.

"We are all looking forward to recognising those that have sacrificed time and effort to support family, friends and neighbours through these especially tough times.”

The 2019 winners were Alix Renwick, Rae Blair and Reese Black.

Alix raised £400 for “friendship benches” at her school, Woodburn Primary in Dalkeith, so that none of her classmates would feel alone at playtime.

Rae challenged herself to the Kids’ Kilometre at the Edinburgh Marathon Festival in May to raise money for Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland to get her Papa-G out of hospital and back home to his family.

Reese, from Winchburgh, West Lothian, organised a craft fair at his local community centre to raise over £300 for Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Scotland (SBH Scotland) as his stepfather Graeme Black, 28, lives with hydrocephalus.

The highlight of the awards will be the Local Hero Award, which will be given to an individual who the judging panel considers to be Edinburgh’s Local Hero.

Judges will select the winner either from entries received from other categories or from nominations specifically for this category.

The award will go to someone who judges believe stand out above all other nominations.

Last year’s winner was Lisa Fleming, who has worked tirelessly to raise funds or research into incurable secondary breast cancer after being diagnosed with the condition in May 2017.

Last year, she set up the charity Make 2nds Count which has raised in the region of £175,000 to be donated to a team at The Western General Hospital, all while undergoing constant treatment herself.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

Subscribe to the Edinburgh Evening News online and enjoy unlimited access to trusted, fact-checked news and sport from Edinburgh and the Lothians. Visit https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates