Individuals, teams, groups, charities and communities were honoured and applauded, in an occasion jointly staged by Community Action Suffolk, Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Association of Local Councils.

A total of 15 awards were presented on the night, following a summer of judging which saw an impressive 163 nominations painstakingly assessed by representatives from the trio of organising bodies. The awards were presented by well-known Suffolk broadcaster, Mark Murphy MBE, who said "I've hosted all sorts of events over the years, but this is one of my favourites.  It's so great to see what groups and individuals do to improve their own community.  They are a real inspiration".

The accolades were collated into five different categories on the night - CAS Community Awards, SALC Council Awards, CAS Children and Young People Awards, Suffolk's Most Active Community Awards, and CAS Volunteering Awards.  The awards highlighted the breadth of community action in Suffolk from individuals volunteers, young people, councils, faith groups and more. 

Sally Longmate, SALC CEO said "this was an evening where we weren't shy about singing the praises of all those who contribute to making our communities in Suffolk a great place to live and huge congratulations to all our winners and those highly commended.  In particular, this year, I was really inspired by the efforts of young people and I know we are all keen to see more of this and proud that we were able to celebrate the work of individual councillors and clerks alongside councils as a whole"  

Council of the Year

Winner - Southwold Town Council

Highly commended - Mildenhall High Town Council

Clerk of the year

Winner - Mark Knight

Highly commended - Al Besly and Odile Wladon

Councillor of the Year

Winner - David Hepper