Hartlepool Hawks founder reflects on an 'overwhelming' award win at Best of Hartlepool - and encourages others to enter

Hartlepool Hawks were chosen as the winner of the Sports Team of the Year at the 2018 awards.

And as this year’s competition gets underway, Hawks founder Rebecca Taylor looked back on a night which she described as ‘amazing’.

Hawks made the country proud after coming home with three gold medals - and 11 medals in all - from the European Cheerleading Championships in Holland last year.

That was in July and just a few months earlier in March, they had 100 people in the UKCA National Championships in Manchester.

It was a huge team aged from 7 to 40 and they won 16 divisions.

It all led to a Best of Hartlepool Award and Rebecca reflected: “It was an amazing night we all really enjoyed it as we have done previous years.

“It is always a great evening. The room always looks amazing and the food is always beautiful.“I was honoured to win our award and overwhelmed for the recognition of the work we do.”

Could you be the next winner of a Best of Hartlepool Awards? Entries are open for this year’s competition.

We want to hear about the wonderful causes out there which are worthy of recognition. We want you to nominate them all for honours in this year’s Best of Hartlepool Awards which are officially launched today.

It’s your chance to give those very special unsung heroes the praise they so richly deserve.

Don’t worry about puzzling over which category to enter your nomination in - we’ve got loads for you to choose from. Take a look at the list below and choose the right one for your community favourite.

In fact, put as many nominations in as you like as we are sure there are loads of worthy causes out there.

Let’s make this a hugely difficult task for the judges by coming up with a glut of entries.

The deadline for entries is Monday, November 11 with judges meeting to draw up the shortlists on Wednesday, November 13.

And then comes the grand finale which will be held at Hardwick Hall on Wednesday, December 4.

But first, get those nominations in. Send them by email to [email protected].

Here are the categories to choose from;

Role Model;

Green Champion;

Child of Achievement;

Fundraiser of the Year;

Carer of the Year;

Student of the Year;

Sporting Excellence;

Volunteer of the Year;

Community Group;

Community Champion;

Child of Courage;

Sports Team of the Year;

Emergency Services Award;

Performer of the Year (under 21);

Lifetime Contribution.

If you are nominating or entering the Young Performer of the Year category, remember to send us a video of the nominated person performing.

Our thanks go to this year’s sponsors for their invaluable support and they include Stagecoach North East, Specsavers, English Martyrs, Northern School of Arts and Hartlepool Borough Council.