awards – Page 23 – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Last call for heroism award entries

‘There are no accidental heroes’

The search for the first ever winner of the recently established The Annie Dow Heroism Award – TADHA for short, which celebrate acts of heroism by young people with additional support needs in Scotland, will close to nominations on Saturday 31 January.

The winner of the inaugural award will be announced at a celebratory awards ceremony at Edinburgh’s Summerhall on Thursday 19 March and will receive a cash prize of £2,500. Two runners up will each also receive a cash prize of £500.

Officially launched in October 2014, TADHA takes its inspiration from Annie Dow, a young woman with additional support needs who saved the lives of her mother, father, family friend and dog Hamish when she bravely raised the alarm after discovering a fire in the middle of the night which destroyed her home.

TADHA founder (and mother of Annie) Sophie Dow is urging anyone who knows of any young person that might be eligible to receive TADHA recognition to put them forward for consideration. She said: “If you have any questions about nominating someone, please just get in touch! We are looking to hear about heroic acts from those with additional support needs, but will also consider inspirational acts as well.

“With TADHA we have a real opportunity to recognise and highlight the often unsung heroes in our society. We need your help to make sure that we hear about those acts, however big or small they might be.”

Made possible by an anonymous donor who gifted £20,000 to recognise Annie’s heroism and that of other young people with additional support needs in Scotland, the TADHA awards will be judged by a prestigious panel made up of Rose Fitzpatrick, Deputy Chief Constable, Police Scotland; Lieutenant Colonel Rob Heatly, MBE Royal Marines;, Anne Houston, Former Chief Executive of Children First;, Peter Murray, Assistant Chief Officer, Scotland Fire and Rescue Services; Louise Macdonald, Chief Executive Young Scot and Aaron McHale, Young Campaigner and Haggeye Member.

Sophie continued: “Setting up TADHA is one of the most important and joyful things I have done throughout my career. TADHA will highlight the abilities, rather than the inabilities, that anyone with additional support needs have.

“After all, the true definition of a hero is someone who can stay calm under pressure, in a crisis or an emergency, knows what to do and does it well without panicking. There are no accidental heroes.”

www.tadha.co.uk

Lord Provost launches Fair Trade Awards

Edinburgh’s Lord Provost, Donald Wilson, has launched the Fair Trade Awards 2015. Now in their ninth year, the awards recognise the difference that residents, businesses and schools make in promoting fair trade in Edinburgh.

The Lord Provost will invite nominations (or in the case of schools, applications) in four categories – Achievement Award, Newcomer Award, Faith Community Award and Fair Trade Schools Award – before the closing date of 13 February 2015.

The awards will be presented during Edinburgh’s Fairtrade Fortnight, which runs from 23 February to 8 March 2015.

Lord Provost, Donald Wilson, said: “I am very proud of Edinburgh’s long-standing commitment to fair trade and these awards provide us with an excellent opportunity to praise the generous contribution individuals and businesses are making to fair trade throughout the city.

“I would encourage people to have a think about where they shop or where they eat and whether that business or organisation promotes fair trade – and, if so, get nominating!”

In 2014, the capital saw its fair trade status renewed for the tenth year in a row. last year’s winners included the Fair Business Alliance Ltd, who introduced fair trade plantain crisps to the market, and Gorgie Dalry Parish Church which was recognised for promoting fair trade across the city. Their Saltyard coffee shop serves fair trade hot drinks and snacks and promotes Created Gifts, Tearfund’s fair trade range, while a mural at their entrance demonstrates their support for fair trade to all those who enter.

Awarded in the schools category last year was St George’s Junior School, whose pupils engaged with local shops to stock fair trade products.

Visit the Council’s Fair Trade webpage for further information and to make an online nomination for the 2015 awards.

The award categories in full:

Achievement Award

This award is for any organisation, business or individual based in Edinburgh showing outstanding commitment to fair trade over a long period of time and has enhanced fair trade within the city.

Newcomer Award

This award is for any organisation, business or individual operating with fair trade in Edinburgh for five years or less which has adopted fair trade products as a key part of the business and promotes fair trade in their marketing.

Faith Community Award

This award is for a faith community in Edinburgh that can demonstrate a strong commitment to fair trade and provide evidence of fair trade activities in the faith community.

Fair Trade School Award

This award is for any school that can demonstrate a strong commitment to fair trade activities throughout the school and its community. Each school must apply through the school community, for example, by parent/teacher council, Eco schools team, fair trade group, for consideration. The school can be working towards Fairtrade status but should not yet have received it.

Small Is Beautiful

This new award is for small organisations or business projects based in Edinburgh, which promotes Fair Trade or Fair Trade products.

Edinburgh College student is apprentice of the year

Edinburgh College student named oil and gas apprentice of the year

An apprentice from Edinburgh College is celebrating after been named apprentice of the year by OPITO, the oil and gas industry’s skills organisation. Michael Williamson, 23, beat off competition from students at three other colleges to win the 2014 Apprentice of the Year Award, which honours the top apprentice on OPITO’s UK Upstream Oil & Gas Technician Training Scheme.

Michael is the sixth Edinburgh College student in a row to win the coveted annual award.

Originally from Whalsay on Shetland, Michael is currently an instrument technician apprentice at Edinburgh College. He was selected after demonstrating an outstanding ability and attitude during the four-year national apprenticeship scheme, which has so far seen more than 1,500 young people enter the industry, creating a sustainable pipeline of technicians coming in at a grassroots level.

Split into two phases, the apprenticeship sees students take part in a 21-month full-time course at college, before embarking on a two year worksite placement.

The former mussel farmer, who previously completed an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering with Shetland Island Council Ferries, received his award at a prestigious lunch in Aberdeen to mark the 15th anniversary of the Technician Training Scheme. The milestone event celebrated the roles of leaders and apprentices across the UK oil and gas industry in addressing skills issues.

Michael said “I was quite taken aback by winning the award. I didn’t even expect to be nominated, let alone win, so I was over the moon. I chose to retrain as an instruments technician mainly as a stepping stone into the oil and gas industry, and also because two apprenticeships are better than one!”

“My studies are progressing well, the theory side is a bit challenging but manageable as long as I keep my head down and get through it. I hope to continue to gain experience and knowledge of the industry and progress towards starting my own limited company and be self-employed further down the line.”

Mike Jeffrey, Head of Engineering at the college, said: “We are thrilled that Michael has been recognised with the OPITO Apprentice of the Year award. Edinburgh College is one of three training centres for OPITO in the UK and the consistent quality of our apprentices has now been recognised with this award six times. The college has successfully trained hundreds of apprentices for the oil and gas industry.”

Operators and major contractors have invested more than £120million in the Technician Training Scheme since it was established in 1999 with 13 trainees and four industry sponsors. Since then, the programme has grown to see around 130 new apprentices taken on every year across 15 sponsoring companies, making it one of the biggest industry-led MA programmes in the UK.

The Technician Training Scheme is managed by OPITO in partnership with the Engineering and Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB). The awards were held as part of National Oil & Gas Skills Week, a UK-wide initiative that saw more than 75 companies take part in around 50 events in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, North Shields, Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft, London.

John McDonald, managing director of OPITO UK, said: “Skills Week has demonstrated that there are some outstanding companies and individuals working in our sector who are delivering tangible benefits around the skills agenda at both a company-wide, local and national level.

“The high standard of entry we received for the inaugural awards was matched only by the passion and enthusiasm shown by this year’s apprentices for the industry they have chosen as a career.”

Top teachers?

Nominations for the Scottish Education Awards 2015 awards are now open. Celebrating the hard work and success in Scottish education, the awards recognise the achievements of people who dedicate their lives to children and young people.

There are 17 awards available across a range of categories covering all areas of education. New awards for this year include learning for sustainability, making languages come alive and transforming lives through partnerships.

If you know of a school or teacher that deserves to be recognised for their hard work visit the Scottish Education Awards website for more information and to submit a nomination.

Nominations must be submitted by Monday 16 February 2015.

Blooming good reason to celebrate success

The Lord Provost unveiled a plaque last night to mark Edinburgh’s success in the Entente Florale environmental competition earlier this year.

Following Edinburgh’s success in Britain in Bloom, Edinburgh was invited to represent the UK at the prestigious Entente Florale, Europe’s largest environmental competition – over 22,000 cities, towns and villages entered Entente Florale across Europe this year.

The winners were announced on 26 September: Edinburgh was awarded gold for excellence in landscape and horticulture, environment and tourism and involvement while The Grassmarket Community Project also won the special Lucija Cikes Prize for integration of disabled people in to society through green skills.

A host of city organisations contributed to Edinburgh’s success – these were:

City of Edinburgh Council, Historic Scotland, Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, Edinburgh and Lothian Greenspace Trust, Cockburn Association, Water of Leith Conservation Trust, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Friends of Parks groups, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, Greenspace Scotland, Marketing Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh, Essential Edinburgh, Hilton Double Tree, Duddingston Field Group, Garvald Group and Grassmarket Community Project.

Pilton group walks off with award!

PILTON COMMUNITY HEALTH PROJECT VOLUNTEERS ‘WALK’ AWAY WITH AN AWARD!

We are delighted to announce that the Pilton Community Health Project walking volunteers have won an award from the Scottish charity Paths for All.

The award for ‘Health Walk Volunteer group of the Year’ will be presented by Shona Robison MSP at the charity’s annual celebration ceremony ‘Celebrating Scotland’s Walking Champions’ tomorrow (Tuesday 4 Novomber) at the Scottish Parliament.

The ceremony recognises the achievements of volunteers from across the country and their contribution to making Scotland more active.

The Pilton Community Health Project walking volunteers have won the award for their dedication and team spirit; this has been key to the success and expansion of the walking programme.

The team consists of eleven highly motivated volunteers who are all passionate about walking and how it can address health inequalities. Without them, the project wouldn’t be able to offer an increasingly wide range of opportunities for local people.

Together they effectively manage the walking groups and help others take steps toward improving their health and wellbeing.

Congratulations to all!

Sharp focus: clean sweep for photography students

Edinburgh College photography students named UK’s best

Edinburgh College has scooped all the top prizes at the British Institute of Professional Photography’s (BIPP) UK Student Awards, beating off competition from the country’s universities and colleges. Two current students and a recent graduate were named the country’s best student photographers, taking first place in the three categories.

BA Professional Photography student Kinga Kocimska won the BIPP National Student of the Year Award, recent BA graduate Jamie Mellor won the Student Open Award for students who are not BIPP members and fellow BA student Sandra Vijandi won the BIPP College Award.

Sandra was also the runner up for the Student of the Year Award and another student, Antonio Castro, came second in the Student Open. Three others were also highly commended in the categories.

Edinburgh College curriculum manager for broadcast media and photography Marjory Crooks said: “We’re delighted that the emerging photography students from Edinburgh College are winning such prestigious awards in the industry. Their future commissions and careers will be greatly enhanced by this as they’re already building fantastic profiles while they’re studying with us.”

Kinga’s winning entry in this year’s UK-wide competition consisted of five images from her second-year portfolio, ‘Deceptive Mind’, which showcased her surreal, witty approach to her photography as well as her technical skill (above).

Sandra took her win and runner-up position for her portfolios ‘Unexpected Journeys’ and ‘Glass Houses’, which demonstrated her flair for fashion photography, featuring stylised, heavily art-directed images (below).

Jamie won for his portfolio ‘Remnants’, featuring shots of eerie hinterland locations (below).

Each winner received a prize of £500.

Kinga said: “I did not expect such an amazing distinction and I’m very pleased that the time and effort I have invested in learning new skills have already started yielding such good results. I’m really grateful for the tuition and development opportunities I have received at Edinburgh College. This award has motivated me even more to continue improving my skills and working hard to gain more experience as a photographer. After all, the biggest challenge of making my way into the photographic industry is still ahead of me.”

These awards continue a winning streak for the college’s photography students that includes five years of multiple successes at the BIPP Scottish Region Image Awards, culminating in 30 awards this year including Student Photographer of the Year and Professional Photographer of the Year. Former student Lee Howell was also runner up in last year’s BIPP Student of the Year Award.

Photography lecturer Jon Lee added: “We’ve been overwhelmed in recent years with the talent of our students and I’m extremely pleased they’re continuing to do so well in these awards. The achievement is down to the hard work of our students and also our staff, who come from a range of commercial photography backgrounds. Many of our part-time staff also still work in the industry, which means our students gain that essential insight into developments in the professional word and ensures they’re prepared when they enter it.”

The college’s BA Professional Photography course currently has 24 students, the HND Professional Photography 1 has 38 and the HND Professional Photography 2 has 34.

Edinburgh College shortlisted for national awards

Edinburgh College has been nominated in three categories in the Scottish further education sector’s flagship national awards. The College Development Network’s Annual Awards recognise the achievements of staff and students at the country’s colleges.

The college is nominated in the following categories:

The Changing Colleges Award, for the college’s groundbreaking partnership working agreement with Edinburgh College Students’ Association (ECSA), the first of its kind for one of the country’s newly merged colleges. The agreement formalises how the college and ECSA work together, giving the students’ association a strong voice to influence decision making at all levels of the organisation. This award category recognises leadership and innovation in the development of regional colleges.

The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award, for ECSA’s commitment to reaching, representing and supporting some of the most under-represented and hardest-to-reach groups in the local community. In close partnership with the college, ECSA has developed a range of events and initiatives to ensure that all students are treated fairly and with dignity, and that their rights are respected.

The Sustainability Award, for the continuing development of the college’s solar meadow project at its Midlothian Campus, which includes an increase in student involvement. The £1.2m, 2,560-panel solar meadow launched in 2013 in partnership with energy firm SSE and generates the equivalent energy for the campus to meet its electricity needs and reduce its carbon emissions by 300,000kg per year. Engineering students have been using data generated from the solar meadow in their studies to learn about renewable energies. This year, the use of the facility as a teaching tool will be expanded and more students from other subject areas will have the chance to use it.

Edinburgh College principal Mandy Exley said: “Receiving three nominations shows the range, quality and creativity of the work our students and staff are doing, and it’s great to receive this recognition from the college community.

“I’m particularly pleased that our close partnership with our students’ association has been commended as we pride ourselves on how students are involved in all aspects of strategic decision making across the college, and how we work closely to make sure they have the best education experience possible. ECSA’s nomination for the equality award is also a great testament to their initiative, energy and dedication to representing all our students effectively.

“The solar meadow nomination reflects the college’s commitment to innovative sustainability projects. Already, it has brought benefits to the college, our students, industry partners and the wider community, and we’re delighted that more students from across the curriculum will have the opportunity to learn from it.”

Last year, Edinburgh College won the College Development Network Awards’ Health and Wellbeing category for its Milton Road Campus Community Garden. The college was highly commended in the Sustainability category for its electric vehicle research project. And it was commended in the Learning and Teaching category for the HND Visual Communication: Graphic Design course’s innovative student induction programme.

This year’s winners will be announced at the College Development Network Annual Awards dinner on 27 November 2014 at The George Hotel in Edinburgh.

Get Up and Go award for PEP

Pilton Equalities Project win Get Up and Go award

PEP manager Helen Tait said: “PEP were delighted to be selected as this years’ winner of the ‘Get Up & Go Award’ for Product and/or Service “That Makes a Difference”. Councillor Lewis, Convener of Sport and Leisure congratulated the project for its work and in reaching its 25 year milestone. Thank you to everyone who supported us for this award!”

Helen was joined by PEP’s weekend resource support worker Moira Stone at the awards ceremony earlier this week (pictured below).