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The 2007 National Lottery Awards have provided a valuable platform to raise the profile of Lottery-funded projects and the achievements of those who run them.

Since The National Lottery began in 1994, more than £20bn has been raised and over 250,000 grants given out across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment. Lottery players raise £25m for good causes, every week, and this money is making a massive difference to thousands of projects and organisations across the UK, but people arent always aware of the Lottery-funded projects in their area or the dedication that go into making them a success. Now entering their fourth year, The National Lottery Awards are a way to celebrate all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes at Lottery-funded projects, large and small, and to say thank you to the people who work tirelessly to ensure their communities can benefit from them. Approximately £1.3bn is raised for the arts every year by Lottery players, and arts projects are represented in various categories in the Awards.

The 2007 Awards were launched in March this year, when people across the UK were encouraged to nominate their favourite Lottery-funded project. After an initial short-listing process, projects then went before an independent judging panel before being whittled down to just ten in each of the seven categories. At this semi-final stage, 70 projects then went forward to the public vote. At stake was the chance to progress through to the final, where £2,000 prize money would go to each category winner to put towards their project. After more than 100,000 votes had been cast, six arts projects were included in the shortlisted from various categories.

The winning finalist in the Best Arts Project category, announced on a prime-time BBC1 show last week, was The Brindley, an arts centre which has been instrumental in raising the expectations of the local community in Halton, in the North West. The towns former arts venue, based in a 1950s chapel, was dilapidated and inaccessible; The Brindley aimed to create a centre which was accessible to the whole community and provide a place for people to get together, take part in the range of arts classes and workshops, or just to sit and have coffee. Lottery funding helped to develop the new arts centre which includes a theatre, studio space, arts education room, music rehearsal space, darkroom, digital imaging room, gallery, cafe and bar. Also a finalist in the arts category was Devon-based Nice Warm Socks, recognised for its use of song to develop the basic communication skills of children with severe learning difficulties and physical impairments. The team created a CD of age-appropriate songs, linked to the National Curriculum, supporting special needs teachers and enabling them to teach in a way that really benefits this group of children. The CD has corresponding web tools, and profits from the CD go towards the web-based material to help the project sustain itself. The third finalist was a very different type of arts project, which is being celebrated in Slough, where the Slough Young Peoples Centre set up The Afterhours Arts Academy to give disadvantaged young people the opportunity to take part in free arts courses, gain recognised qualifications, perform and develop the skills needed to set up their own creative businesses. Lottery funding paid for tutors, specialised courses and accreditation, enabling those involved to achieve recognised qualifications. It has also helped to fund stage and screen performances, and the project now includes the use of digital media technology. Participants have formed a theatre company, two design companies and two dance companies as a result.

But arts projects were not just represented in the Arts Prize category. The winner of the Best Heritage Project was Somme Theatre, an initiative in which The Old Vic Theatre and The Imperial War Museum joined forces to educate people about the First World War and raise awareness of the 1916 Battle of the Somme. The project brought together over 100 volunteers aged 13 to 70, and enable 1,500 people who wouldnt normally go to the theatre to see a professional production for free. The Lottery grant also funded a resource pack which was then mailed to 5,000 schools. Among the organisations nominated for the Best Health Project prize was Hearts & Minds Elderflowers Programme, which offers support for people in hospital suffering from dementia, allowing participants a creative outlet, helping to relieve the feelings of depression and loneliness that they may experience as a result of their illness. And the finalists for the Sunday Mirror Award for Best Charity/Voluntary Project included the Mary Hare music therapy unit, which provides deaf children and young people with the opportunity to make music, to engage deaf children in music therapy and help them interact more freely with both their parents and other young people.

For all these Lottery-funded prize nominees, its a win-win situation. The organisations can enjoy their moment of glory but the public can enjoy the ongoing benefits generated from their achievements.

National Lottery Awards are organised on behalf of the DCMS, Lottery operator Camelot, and the 14 distributors of Lottery Good Cause funding, including Arts Council England and the UK Film Council. http://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards.