A CGI of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park's South Plaza in year 2014.

London 2012: Paralympic tickets for your Community Champions

Sarah Shaffi, Olympics editor (news) Thursday, June 28, 2012
10:37 AM

The Gazette is searching for Community Champions, and we’re looking to you, our readers, to nominate the people you think deserve to be honoured.

How to nominate a Community Champion

Email your nominations to sarah.shaffi@archant.co.uk, including your name, contact telephone number and email address.

Please include the name and contact number of the person you are nominating and about 150 words on why you are nominating them. Please also indicate whether or not they know they have been nominated.

You can also send your nominations to Sarah Shaffi, Media House, 539 High Road, Ilford, IG1 1UD.

Twenty people will be shortlisted from each of the Olympic boroughs – Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Waltham Forest and Greenwich.

A panel of judges will then decide on the final 50.

The deadline for nominations is Wednesday, July 18.

In partnership with the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) – the body in charge of the Olympic Park after the Games – the Gazette is searching for 50 Community Champions.

Each will receive two tickets to the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games on August 29 and an invitation to meet a Paralympian.

Community Champions are the people who help make the borough tick – they are our unsung heroes.

Daniel Moylan, chairman of the LLDC, said: “I think that the important thing is that people have their own ideas and criteria of what makes a Community Champion.

“I think what we always want to see is someone who makes a difference in their area. It might be a small area, such as a group of houses of a block of flats.

“I think people deserve acknowledgement.”

A Community Champion may be someone who has served on a school’s governing body for years, or a dedicated volunteer who gives up weekends to help coach a sports team or help a community group.

They may be someone who has courageously put aside their own fears or has risked their life to help someone else, or someone who is renowned for their good deeds in the area. It could be someone who cares for a family member.

Malcolm Starbrook, editor of the Gazette, said: “Community Champions give up their time and energy to help other people in a variety of ways.

“Many of them do so without expecting any kind of recognition or reward.

“But we think it’s about time these selfless people were honoured, so we want you to nominate your Community Champions, and they will be rewarded with a once-in-a-lifetime day out at the Paralympic Games.”