Shine a Light 2012 – a night to celebrate

It’s hard to believe that just over a year ago we launched the first ever Shine a Light Awards as part of the Hello, national year of communication campaign. Now in their second year the Awards have proven to hold a special place in the industry; a fact recognised at last week’s award ceremony.

After months of preparation, research into helium balloons, how to download acceptance videos and the inner workings of bubble machines…the hard work has paid off! On the 21 November over 120 individuals came together at 80 Strand, with celebrity host Paul Ross, to hear the results of this year’s awards, which included exciting new categories such as Communication Champion and Youth Justice.

The Shine a Light Awards were established to honour individuals, teams, projects and communities which have demonstrated excellence in supporting the needs of all children and young people’s communication, particularly those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). This year we were delighted to honour some of the following, including the nursery setting Haven 2000 Nursery Ltd as our Early Years’ Setting of the Year, community‐wide Every Sheffield Child Articulate and Literate (ESCAL) for the Communication and 17‐year‐old Jack Fradgley as Young Person of the Year and winner of our Outstanding Achievement award. The look of surprise and delight on Jack and his families face is one to remember.

It was also a particular treat to honour Mr Tumble/Justin Fletcher as another Outstanding Achievement Winner, along with Jean Gross CBE, the government’s Communication Champion during the national year.

There were many highlights at this years awards, but some particular moments stand out including Justin Fletcher aka Mr Tumble’s acceptance video filmed at Justin’s House, Jack Marshall – last years’ young person of the year and a judge for 2012 – congratulation speech to this year’s young person – inspiring is not a grand enough word, and of course some Shine a Light cupcakes!

Find out about this year’s winners and highly commended finalists in our mini video, (many thanks to Tentacle Media for putting this together – amazing as always!), and reminder to look out for Shine a Light 2013! www.shinealightawards.co.uk 

Pearson Assessment at SAL

Last year’s winners at the Shine a Light Awards 2012