President’s Awards 2009
2009 marks the twenty-fifth year of the President’s Awards which were introduced in 1985 to recognise the work that local groups, now affiliated groups, do for the YHA.
For 2009 the “Conservation” and “Work at a Hostel” categories were combined while a new ‘Best Display’ category was introduced.
Ten groups entered for 2009, two more than the previous year but two less than in 2007.
In 2008, unusually, just two groups dominated the awards but this time more groups have been successful again.
As usual each of the eight categories will be presented before moving on to the overall results.
First is the Best Conservation Project And / Or Work At A Hostel which was also entered by Croydon but was won by Epping Forest Outdoor Group. For their “Bramble Bash” about ten members of the Epping Forest Group spent a couple of days in January clearing brambles and other weeds from the grounds of the ROVSCO Hall in Snaresbook which is the Scout Hut used for their regular Thursday evening meetings.
Surprisingly just two groups, Barnet and Croydon, entered the Best Publicity Strategy category. Barnet YHA Group won with their efforts to publicise an active and vibrant club appealing to a range of ages. With personal contacts being an important source of recruitment they distributed many business cards as well as updating their website and producing new leaflets.
Seven groups entered the Best Programme category, and three groups shared second place, Barnet, Dunstable and Guildford. The category was won by COPSE, the Croydon YHA Group whose 75th anniversary year featured special events and many hostelling weekends as well as their usual varied Tuesday evening activities.
COPSE, the Croydon YHA Group won the Best Fundraising Initiative category with a mock auction of unwanted Christmas presents, the Weald Walkers Wander and the Gatliff Marathon. Some of the £990 proceeds from these events will be spent on a new internal partition ceiling at Puttenham Youth Hostel.
The new category this year of The Best Display About An Affiliated Group was surprisingly entered by only two groups, Croydon and Epping Forest. Epping Forest Outdoor Group won with their ten sheets featuring good clear photographs of the group’s varied activities.
Barnet, Croydon and Harrogate entered the Best Newsletter Or Magazine category. The clear winner again is Viewpoint from COPSE, the Croydon YHA Group which dates back to the 1930s and has about 32 pages with a variety of well written articles and many photographs.
The Best New Members Package category also had excellent entries from Croydon and Epping Forest groups but was won by Barnet YHA Group These three groups work hard to ensure that the potential new members they’ve attracted are integrated into the group.
Seven groups entered the Best Website category, with Barnet coming third and Dunstable Walking and Hostelling Group and Leicester YHA Group jointly winning with their websites, which are well worth seeking out.
With thanks to Jeff, Ivan and Kathy for judging the 2009 President’s Awards, we now move on to the overall results.
Guildford and Leicester Groups came joint fifth with Dunstable in fourth place.
In Third place are Epping Forest Outdoor Group.
Barnet YHA Group are the runners-up for 2009.
Winner of the President’s Trophy are the 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008 winners,
COPSE, the Croydon YHA Group
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[...] cheque (for the group, not for me!) were awarded by Caroline White, the Chief Executive of YHA. A full list of winners of all categories can be found on the yhagroup.org.uk site. Comments [...]
If you want to see the winning Leicester YHA website, you’re too late! Our new design went live this week.