Nominations are Now Open for the Pride of Somerset Youth Awards 2024

Somerset Youth Awards 2024

The Pride of Somerset Youth Awards (POSYA) honours remarkable achievements of young individuals throughout the county who have made their families, friends, or community proud over the last twelve months.

Founded by the Rotary Club of Taunton, and now in their 17th year, the awards celebrate the often unsung heroes among our Somerset young people. They are dedicated to recognising inspirational efforts, accomplishments, unwavering determination and selfless actions.  

2024 looks to be the biggest year yet for the awards, with several fantastic sponsors from advocates of Somerset, including This is Gravity, Somerset County Gazette, and Bridgwater & Taunton College.

Claire Pearce from Gravity said, “Gravity is immensely proud be the main sponsor of these awards as well as the ‘Environmental’ award. We welcome the opportunity to recognise and promote the inspirational young people across Somerset who go above and beyond for their communities. We are also delighted to introduce our key partners at Bounce Forward and Bridgwater United Community Sports Trust as sponsors of the ‘Championing Positive Mental Health’ and ‘Community Hero’ awards, respectively. The Gravity work on environmental and social governance is a team effort to contribute positively to the locality and help prepare and inspire young people about the future ahead.”

Andy Berry, Principal and CEO of Bridgwater & Taunton College said “We are delighted to sponsor these awards. Young people from across the County go above and beyond, often in the face of adversity, achieving amazing things. This is an opportunity to reflect on and recognise their achievements. I am looking forward to hearing their amazing stories and celebrating their accomplishments.”

The award categories range from Charity / Volunteer Hero and the Young Person of the Year Award to the Sandy Padgett and Sporting Achievement Awards. Each aim to spotlight any young person in the county who has demonstrated outstanding generosity, courage, talent, and dedication.

All nominations come from Somerset’s public, with the winners selected by a panel of judges comprised of local business leaders, public figures, and dedicated champions of various Somerset communities.

Among the past recipients are notable figures such as England cricketer Jos Buttler, British gymnast Laura Gallagher, and Jamie Edwards, a hopeful for the Paris Paralympics in wheelchair athletics.

An award ceremony will take place on Thursday 16 May 2024, 6.30pm-9pm at The McMillan Theatre, Bridgwater. This will be a truly special evening filled with pride, joy, and above all, the brilliant stories our award winners.

Do you know of a young individual who deserves recognition? You can nominate them today via our online portal here. All nominees must be under the age of 21. The last date to submit nominations is Friday 8 March 2024.

You can get the latest updates on the awards by following Pride of Somerset Youth Awards 2024 on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

About the Awards

The Pride of Somerset Youth Awards 2024 is proud to work with a collection of fantastic partners that make this possible. With 10 awards categories in total, each sponsor has selected an award that they are passionate about and can advocate for.

  • Art & Culture Award | Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Taunton
  • Care Award | Sponsored by the Somerset County Gazette
  • Championing Positive Mental Health Award | Sponsored by Bounce Forward
  • Charity / Volunteer Hero | Sponsored by Young Somerset
  • Community Hero | Sponsored by Bridgwater United Community Sports Trust
  • Environmental Award | Sponsored by This is Gravity
  • Outstanding Courage Award | Sponsored by Somerset Larder
  • Sandy Padgett Award | Sponsored by Avon & Somerset Police
  • Sporting Achievement Award | Sponsored by Passion of Somerset
  • Young Person of Year Award | Sponsored by Bridgwater & Taunton College

Notes to Editors

For more information, please contact prideofsomersetyouthawards@gmail.com or call 01278 441216.

Somerset Lord Lieutenancy visits Gravity Smart Campus

SOMERSET 6 September – The Gravity Smart Campus was pleased to welcome Somerset’s Lord Lieutenant, Mohammed Saddiq, Vice-Lord Lieutenant, Edward (Ted) Allen and Deputy Lieutenants Denis Burn and Martin Thatcher on their fact-finding visit to Gravity.

The Gravity team, accompanied by representatives from Stantec, Bridgwater & Taunton College and Bridgwater United Sports Community Trust welcomed the Lord Lieutenant before providing strategic updates on the progress made on site to date as well as a guided tour of the 616-acre Enterprise Zone.  

Conversations on sustainability, workforce development, social value initiatives and legacy opportunities beyond Hinkley Point C were at the forefront of the visit. Gravity’s low-carbon journey was highlighted by its material management strategy which prioritises re-use, recycling and re-purposing which has significantly reduced the requirement of imported quarried stone.

Andy Berry & Simon Brewer from Bridgwater & Taunton College discussed the college’s infrastructure and their role in the strategic development of new education pathways that would lead local students into jobs at Gravity.

The Lord Lieutenant was involved in a live demonstration of the huge popular Gravity Sphero initiative from Bridgwater United Community Sports Trust, which is has engaged with over 500 local young people since its launch in 2022. This was followed by an introduction into Stantec’s STEM outreach programme which uses Gravity ‘Green Bridge’ as an example to engage children across the key stages about the principles of engineering.

Somerset Larder was in attendance, demonstrating the value of legacy business opportunities beyond Hinkley Point C.

Gravity Director – Planning & Economic Development Claire Pearce commented: “The team was thrilled with the opportunity to host the Somerset Lord Lieutenancy; it was a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the breadth of work that has been undertaken in preparing Gravity to attract large-scale occupiers and specifically showcase the social value initiatives underway in collaboration with our local stakeholders and communities.

We would like to thank the Somerset Lieutenancy for taking the time to visit our site and our consultants and partners who are committed to delivering our respective ESG ambitions on the ground and who made the visit such a success.”

Somerset Lord Lieutenant, Mohammed Saddiq commented: “A wonderful visit that left me inspired and informed about the remarkable sustainability ambitions for the Gravity site. The visit reinforced my belief in the power of sustainable initiatives and their potential to help grow the local economy.”

About Somerset Lord Lieutenancy

The Lord-Lieutenant and all Deputies are volunteers and the titles are honorary. Aside from royal duties, Lord-Lieutenants promote and encourage voluntary and charitable organisations and take an interest in the business, urban and rural and social life of the county. They have wide discretion in how they carry out their tasks and also in those they choose to undertake.

As the sovereign’s representative in his or her area, the Lord-Lieutenant remains non-political and does not hold office in any political party. It is their foremost duty to uphold the dignity of the Crown. In so doing, they seek to promote a spirit of co-operation and good atmosphere by supporting voluntary and benevolent organisations and by the interest they take in all aspects of business and social life of their counties.

About Gravity

Gravity will be the UK’s first commercial smart campus and a blueprint for a ‘cleaner’, smarter future. It aims to attract the world’s most innovative companies working in the ‘clean growth’ sectors.

Expected to create up to 7,500 jobs, the 616-acre Enterprise Zone will be designed to shape connections between people and the places in which they work, supporting a culture of innovation and wellbeing. It will include diverse, flexible workspaces and resilient technologies along with enhanced transport links to, and within, the surrounding area.

Gravity awards Stroud business ‘Talick Group Ltd’ with Environmental Achievement Award

Gravity Programme Director, Paul Lowndes, was in attendance at the Somerset Business Awards 2022 finale organised by the Somerset Chamber of Commerce. The awards sought to recognise and celebrate the best of business within Somerset.

Paul Lowdnes was tasked with judging for the ‘Environmental Achievement Award’ for the second consecutive year, this year he decided to award it to ‘Talick Group’ for their holistic impact towards net-zero efforts. Paul was impressed by all the finalists.

It was a tough task to judge – three very competent and hugely impressive finalists. Talick Group was a first amongst equals! Huge respect for New Leaf Design and Somerlap, both worthy finalists and most unfortunate to come up against Talick who “won by a short nose” on the strength of their all round impact in driving progress in the green economy as a whole.

I’m already looking forward to see what the region can do next year. .

Paul Lowndes, Gravity Programme Director

I am extremely proud of our county’s businesses; we were all blown away by the quality of the entries and what Somerset’s businesses are achieving and producing.

“It was fantastic to be able to honour winners and finalists from all corners of the county and from a wide range of sectors and industries. Thank you to everyone who entered the awards and thank you to our judges and sponsors who continue to make these the biggest and best business awards in Somerset.”

Emma Rawlings, Executive Director of Somerset Chamber of Commerce

Gravity sponsors ‘Environmental Achievement Award’ at Somerset Business Awards – 2022

London, September 2021 – Gravity, the UK’s first commercial smart campus, is delighted to announce that it will be sponsoring the ‘Environmental Achievement Award‘ for the second consecutive year at the Somerset Business Awards 2022, organised by Somerset Chamber of Commerce.

Gravity is proud to support an event that celebrates the incredible achievements of local individuals and businesses, recognising the impact of their contributions towards protecting the environment. Following on from last years’ incredible entries and eventual winners ‘James Tobias’ our Programme Director and Environmental Achievement Award judge, Paul Lowndes, is looking forward to seeing which Somerset companies are taking steps towards greater sustainability.

Entries open on September 16th and close midday on December 3rd, the ceremony will take place on March 11, 2022. The awards are free to enter and businesses do not need to be a member of the Chamber to take part.

Click here for more information on entering for the Environmental Achievement Award.

About Gravity

Gravity will be the UK’s first commercial smart campus and a blueprint for a ‘cleaner’, smarter future. It aims to attract the world’s most innovative companies working in the ‘clean growth’ sectors.

Expected to create up to 7,500 jobs, the 616-acre Enterprise Zone will be designed to shape connections between people and the places they work, supporting a culture of innovation and wellbeing. It will include diverse, flexible workspaces and resilient technologies along with enhanced transport links to, and within, the surrounding area.

Gravity sponsors ‘Environmental Achievement Award’ at Somerset Business Awards – 2021

Gravity sponsors Environmental Award

London, August 2020 – Gravity, the UK’s first commercial smart campus, is delighted to announce that it will be sponsoring the newly added ‘Environmental Achievement Award‘ at this year’s Somerset Business Awards, organised by Somerset Chamber of Commerce.

Gravity is proud to support an event that celebrates the incredible achievements of local individuals and businesses, recognising the impact of their contributions towards protecting the environment during what has been a challenging year.

This event’s Environmental Achievement Award takes on greater significance with four Somerset authorities including Sedgemoor passing resolutions to declare or recognise ‘A Climate Emergency’, and have since agreed to collaborate to produce and deliver an ambitious climate strategy for Somerset.

Entries open on September 1, the awards ceremony will take place on March 26, 2021. The awards are free to enter and businesses do not need to be a member of the Chamber to take part.

About Gravity

Gravity, the UK’s first commercial smart campus, is the blueprint for a smarter, cleaner future – faster. It will deliver a new era of possibility by supporting companies making a difference socially, economically and environmentally, driving the UK’s shift to growing through a cleaner economy.

With direct access to the M5 and accessible by rail, air and sea, the site offers over 635 acres for the creation of millions of sq ft of scalable, flexible and shared working space.

Multinationals and start-ups will benefit from the excellent connectivity and speed of build out Gravity offers. By attracting today’s giants and tomorrow’s unicorns, there will be significant opportunities for collaboration.

With its on-site water provision, renewable and low carbon energy infrastructure and building energy management, dark fibre, excellent transport links, accessible talent pool and knowledge economy including four top-tier universities close by, Gravity provides occupiers with the ability to build, expand, and develop faster and efficiently.

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