It’s a hat trick for Eastside Awards in association with George Best Belfast City Airport with a consistently high calibre of entries being received.
A new element was introduced to the third annual awards with the public voting for their favourite beauty salon, hair salon, eatery and takeaway, attracting more than 5,000 votes on the Belfast Telegraph website. A panel of independent judges also met to rigorously assess the highest number of entries received since the awards first launched in 2017 to recognise all that is truly great about East Belfast.
Jonathan McAlpin, Chief Executive of East Belfast Enterprise and Chair of Eastside Awards Committee, said: “It’s a hat trick for the Eastside Awards with a phenomenally high calibre of entries from local people across the community in this third year. With such a diverse range of finalists, our awards ceremony in January will be a superb celebration of the best of East Belfast.”
Stephen Patton, Human Resources and Corporate Responsibility Manager at George Best Belfast City Airport said: “Belfast City Airport is a proud sponsor of the Eastside Awards for the third year. The awards are a brilliant opportunity to celebrate individuals and organisations who make a significant contribution to the development of their community.
“At the airport, we are embedded in the local community through a number of initiatives including our Community Fund, adopted schools programme and High Flyers Apprenticeship Scheme. Earlier this year, our Community Fund celebrated investing just over £400,000 in 150 local projects, with many activities in east Belfast.”
The Eastside Awards Finalists are:
Eastside Award for Favourite Beauty Salon sponsored by Solv Beauty Culture, Beyoutiful Hair and Beauty Salon, The Secret Day Spa
Eastside Award for Favourite Hair Salon sponsored by Solv Company Haircutters, LaVeau Hair, Urbanroots
Eastside Award for Favourite Eatery sponsored by Solv The Lamppost Café, Orchard Café, Peppercorn Cafe
Eastside Award for Favourite Takeaway sponsored by Solv The Fryar Tuck, Mandarin City, Nicos Pizza Pasta
Eastside Award for Tourism Experience sponsored by Titanic Belfast, Titanic Foundation and Titanic Quarter East Belfast Mission – Turas; Hidden Ulster Tours; We Are Vertigo
Eastside Award for Individual Contribution to Sport sponsored by Millar McCall Wylie Artur Kopyt, Glentoran Football Club Academy Polish Section; Gervis Knox and Keith Knox, Ormeau Table Tennis Club & Ulster Table Tennis; Alex McGreevy and Philip Corr, Titanic
Quarter Cycling Club
Eastside Award for Contribution to the Arts sponsored by Phoenix Energy Aly Harte; Arlene Megaw, East Belfast Mission; Strand Arts Centre
Eastside Award for Educator of the Year sponsored by We’re Sure Beverley Cripps, Ashfield Girls’ High School; Aly Harte; Lynn Myers, Strathearn School
Eastside Award for Best Community Project sponsored by Urban Villages Charter NI – Diamond Project; East Belfast Mission – Turas; Groundwork Northern Ireland
Eastside Award for Employer of the Year sponsored by Fleet Financial Oasis Travel; Odyssey Bowl; Precept IT
Titanic Eastside Award for Innovation sponsored by Titanic Belfast, Titanic Foundation and Titanic Quarter Proud; Spectra Sensory Clothing; We Are Vertigo
Eastside Award for Business Start-Up sponsored by Belfast City Council Home Away From Home; Marketing Tech & Design; Spectra Sensory Clothing
Eastside Award for Business Growth sponsored by Ulster Bank Belfast Pilates & Physiotherapy; Precept IT; Totalis Construction Ltd
Eastside Award for Volunteer of the Year sponsored by Wolseley Jodie Killops, Glentoran Football Club; Pamela Loan, East Belfast Mission; Brian White, Brain Injury Matters
Eastside Award for Young Person of the Year sponsored by George Best Belfast City Airport Coleen Bergantinos, Ashfield Girls’ High School; Jonathan McLaughlin, Grosvenor Grammar School; Mason Robinson, Pocket Pal
The recipient of a special Outstanding Contribution award sponsored by East Belfast Enterprise will be announced at the third annual awards ceremony as chosen by the committee. This individual will be awarded for the outstanding contribution they have made to the East Belfast community.
The third annual Eastside Awards will be hosted by BBC presenter Tara Mills who will announce the winners at a Burns Night themed celebration, with a pre dinner reception sponsored by The Waterside, Belfast, in Hastings Stormont Hotel on Friday 25 January 2019.
Finalists for the Eastside Awards will each receive two complimentary tickets for the awards ceremony and additional tickets for Eastside Awards are priced at £45.00 plus VAT and can be purchased by logging onto www.eastsideawards.org.
www.eastsideawards.org; www.facebook.com/eastsideawards; www.twitter.com/east_awards; #eastawardsni