‘Our Star’ Awards winners 2014

More than 300 Plymouth City Council employees were nominated for this year’s Our Star Awards that recognise staff dedication and commitment.

Dozens of finalists attended the Council’s annual Our Star Awards held at Plymouth University’s graduation ceremony marquee on the Hoe.

The 13 winners included the Council’s events team, which won an Innovation Award for putting on the spectacular MTV concert on the Hoe in July. The event saw 20,000 people watching acts such as Example and The Kaiser Chiefs rock the Hoe. The concert shown on MTV showcased Britain’s Ocean City in more than 35 countries and trended globally on Twitter.

Other winners included City Deal Team, which won the Team Award for how they worked together to secure significant funding which will lead to the creation of 9,000 jobs in the South West. Working as part of a wider peninsula team amounting to over 70 people, the team had to work together to manage a very complex project.

Co-operative Commissioning won the Co-operative Values Award for their work to place Plymouth citizens and communities at the heart of the commissioning cycle.

The Leader’s Award was presented by Councillor Tudor Evans, Leader of Plymouth City Council, to Alistair Macpherson, Low Carbon City Team Leader, for his work in creating the Plymouth Energy Community (PEC), one of the Council’s biggest cooperative successes.

Other winners included Bob Summers, who manages the Guildhall, who won the Customer Service Award for his reputation for doing everything he can to make events run smoothly.

The Sports Development Unit won the Communities and Participation Award for outstanding service to the local community after delivering a number of projects that have benefitted young people at risk, people from deprived communities, ethnic minority groups and people with a disability. Recent projects include increasing opportunities for children to play tennis, a lifeguarding course, taking children from Devonport to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games, and organising the South West British Filipino Society SportsFest.

Councillor Tudor Evans, Leader of Plymouth City Council, said: “We are extremely proud of all the winners of the Our Star Awards and they should all be very proud of themselves also. We have a lot of very talented, very dedicated staff working for the Council and their efforts don’t always get recognition.

“The awards give us the chance to recognise and thank the invaluable contribution our staff make to the Council and the difference they are making to the wider community.

“As our co-operative values state, we are one team, serving the city. Plymouth City Council is a place where people can make an individual contribution and collectively we all do our bit in creating a fairer city.”