This takes us on to our second announcement. Since the end of last year’s awards, we have been working hard to secure sponsorship for the 2011 awards. We all know the deal though, recession, cuts, blah blah blah.

We really would have struggled this year to run the awards on the teeniest tiniest shoestring imaginable (approximately £0). And in addition to financial difficulties, organising lady Sarah is pregnant and due just a couple of weeks after the awards are held. She insisted she could manage it all but the rest of us told her not to be so daft.

As a result we have decided to have a break for 2011 and be back, bigger, shinier, better, in 2012.

A huge thanks to everyone involved so far, and if you have any question or comments, please email sarah@sussexecoawards.org.uk

See you next year.

The Eco Awards team

We’ve started with a new logo, designed by sustainable communications expert Simon Bottrell at 7 Creative. He assures us its fair trade and organic.

There’s a new website (look, see, you’re looking at it now) and we’ve got a selection of the finest local geeks developing a whole new nomination system for you to vote for your eco-heroes.

As for the party at the end, Marilyn Monroe will be making a welcome return but mostly we’re still working it all out. We’ve got some pretty good ideas though, so you’ll just have to wait and see.

To keep up to date follow us on Facebook and Twitter, or sign up for our newsletter.

Photos by Sam Eddison. Feel free to use but please credit Sam Eddisson/Sussex Eco Awards, with links where appropriate. Thanks!

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Green Building
Earthship Brighton

Green Household
Ann  Link

Green Business
Firefly Solar CIC

Green Champion
Dr John Parry

Community and Campaign
South Downs Campaign

Foodie of the Year
Nourish Organic Farms

Green School
Birdham C of E Primary School

Volunteer of the Year
Cat Fletcher

Young Environmentalist
Zach Narvaez
Liam Russell

He helps run an “Eco-Check” scheme at school, visiting classrooms at lunchtime to check which teachers have turned off lights and computers and measuring the power consumption. This check is followed up with a name and shame at school assemblies, whilst good teachers are given certificates and encouragement to do more. There are awards for staff who have done the best, and booby prizes for those who have done badly.

At school, Zach is on the eco board, and has been involved in tree planting exercises, a project looking after sheep on school land and numerous other tasks. He also attends external events on the school’s behalf.

His mum is very supportive “the scheme is hilarious, whenever I go to parent night they’re petrified of him, dread him coming in – they know they’re being monitored. He’s not scared to come forward, he’s not scared of who he is. He has no qualms about standing up in assembly and naming and shaming the teachers.”

She said “He’s one of those kids, whatever he does to the max, he gives up his own time, puts his whole heart in to it. I’m really proud of him.”

Zach will be interviewed as a nominee for head boy, although some staff may not be so sure, his mum says “teachers tell me “we hate it when we see your son, it makes us worry!”

Looking to the future, Zach wants to emulate Richard Branson and start a travel company, albeit one with a twist. He wants to own his own eco travel company, ensuring that all his holidays are environmentally friendly.

The first week of July has seen us working flat out to profile everyone who is up for an award, and you can browse them on this ‘ere site. It’s been no easy task though (125 x 300 words = 37,500 words. That’s almost a novel) and we’re still waiting on a few, but the remaining stragglers should turn up any day now.

Feel free to leave comments for your favourite entries and the judges will be perusing the site during July and scoring each entrant in order to make the short list.

The scoring works like this: each entrant is assessed using the One Planet Living principles and is given a mark out of ten for each one. If a particular principle doesn’t apply to a certain business -  for example, a project to reclaim WEEE can’t really be judged on sustainable food – then no mark is given. The final score, however, is worked out as an average, dividing by the number of criteria judged on rather than the number of criteria available, so no one is marked down unnecessarily.

Here’s an example for a made up company called BirdCo, which campaigns to make life better for our feathered friends.

Zero carbon: 5/10
Zero waste: 7/10
Sustainable transport: 4/10
Local and sustainable materials: 8/10
Local and sustainable food: 8/10
Sustainable water: 4/10
Natural habitats and wildlife: 10/10
Culture and heritage: no score
Equity and fair trade: 6/10
Health and happiness: 7/10

The final score is 50% + 70% + 40% + 80% + 80% + 40% + 10% + 60% + 70% / 9 = 55.55

The top three entrants in each category then become the short list.

One important thing to remember here is marking is subjective, not qualitative. This isn’t about who makes the most money or drives the shiniest hybrid car. It’s about who’s making a difference in the best way they can. We’ve picked the judges for their deep knowledge around the issues of sustainability and the environment and to represent a good mix of thoughts and opinions. It’s kind of like peer reviewing, only with pretty trophies at the end.

She first came to Sussex from Sydney in 1992 and was horrified at the lack of recycling facilities and the ignorance surrounding waste. Thinking that it is better to be part of the solution rather than add to the problems – she has for years been promoting reuse. Since 2007 has voluntarily run and promoted an online community group (GreenCycleSussex, formerly BrightonFreecycle ™) that facilitates the reuse of unwanted goods amongst locals. Membership is currently about 16,000.

GreenCycleSussex is part of Freegle. Cat was integral in the creation of Freegle in 2009 and is an elected national representative. Freegle is a UK-based network of 252 local reuse groups with almost 1.1 million members-all giving and getting stuff for free thus reducing landfill fodder.

Cat voluntarily does the national Freegle promotion and has got the concept of “local free giving” featured on mainstream TV; local and regional radio; in local, national and international newspapers and magazines; and in every imaginable online site.

She is currently working on projects with WRAP, Lewes Priory School, and a national energy company and is busy setting up a nationwide Freegle group for music festival-goers. She has been invited to make a seminar presentation at the National Recycling Waste Management Conference – where she hopes to inspire Local Authority managers, corporate strategic planners and government officials to embrace and support community reuse initiatives like GreenCycleSussex.

Cat dreams of community composting and reuse becoming mainstream activities; and is always striving to help change attitudes and behaviours locally and afar – so we won’t need to build more incinerators in the future!

He started attending Eco Club because a friend did and says: “I didn’t really think much of eco stuff before I went but then I thought it was quite fun. There’s lots of digging and outdoor work, I like that. So I got into it a bit more and started going every week and now here I am.”

Liam’s affection for gardening and manual work has lead to a wider interest in sustainability. He is taking an environmental science GCSE and considering carrying it on to A Levels. Through the Eco Club he has attended parents evenings selling recycled paper notepads, raising £80 for the Brian Foster Centre of Environmental Education. He also runs two recycling-based games at the summer fair to help teach others about reusing and separating waste before chucking it in the bin. Liam is a member of the eco-committee, a student council working to improve the ecology around and sustainability of the school, and is the eco representative on the school council.

Environmental education co-ordinator Rob Sandercock says: “The eco club seems to have clicked for Liam as he has attended most weeks for the last four years. He has a dry and quirky sense of humour that has lifted my spirits on many a miserable day. He took on the recycled pad project as his own and spent a number of evenings selling them to parents at parents’ evening. He has also come to all the Woodland working days we have throughout the year and where he has actively helped manage the woodland.”

The community farm, now over 10 years old, is split into growing fields, woodland, gardens and a sales yard, with each part of the social enterprise acting as a hands-on training ground to help adults facing exclusion or barriers to independent living.

One of the most unique aspects of the venture is that it allows those involved to see their work, and the produce cultivated, through from plot to plate. Much of the food grown at Nourish’s farm is used as ingredients at the 20/20 café at the East Brighton Community Mental Health Centre, providing a rewarding working environment for its members and helping to cut down on food miles.

Work in the cafe, including everything from food preparation and menu planning to customer service, also counts towards vocational qualifications such as NVQs, offering service users a real leg-up for future employment opportunities.

A rightly popular venture, Nourish is well-connected within our local area, counting the Food Partnership Brighton and Hove (B&H), City College B&H and B&H Business Community Partnership among its partners, and seeks to give back to the community wherever possible.

Local businesses, which in the past have included American Express, The Argus and Ink Fish, are encouraged to use the farm for team-building exercises, inspiring better working practices through tasks that range from weeding to installing irrigation systems. And the Nourish team is currently creating a range of platters, sandwiches and snacks for meetings and events from locally grown and prepared food, sourcing as much of the ingredients as possible from within Sussex and the community farm.

www.nourishcic.co.uk