We at the Craven Herald and Craven District Council are delighted and proud to once more support the Craven Community Champions Awards 2014, which highlight the tremendous work being done by individual and groups in our communities, often without any fanfare or reward.

The awards give us a chance to at least partly redress the balance, by paying tribute to some of those people who give so much to others.

This is the third year that Craven District Council and the Craven Herald have come together to run the awards, and we are grateful to Cirteq for sponsoring the awards as a whole, and the Coniston Hotel for allowing us to hold the event there once again.

The awards cover many aspects of life in Craven, from community groups and projects through green initiatives and pushing the boundaries in arts and culture and sport and recreation to finding top volunteers and young people who have really made a difference. Innovations in Craven business and the digital world are also being celebrated, along with civic achievement.

We will also learn tonight who has won the Citizen of the Year Award for 2014.

While tonight's event can only focus on a relatively small number of people and groups, it is only right to say that getting the many nominations down to tonight's eventual awards shortlist was extremely difficult, and the decision-making got tougher still as the judges debated who to choose as the category winners.

The reason for this is simply that so much good work is being done by so many people and groups in Craven.

It was both uplifting and humbling to learn of the many positive efforts being made to make our district a better place to live in, and I am sure all the judges would have liked to have been able to give out many more awards tonight.

However, hard decisions had to be made, aided by a scoring system that was the same for everyone.

We certainly feel very strongly that those being honoured tonight represent much of what is the very best in our district, and do much to help make Craven such an outstanding place to live.

Our thanks go to the sponsors in each category for helping us to celebrate all these achievements - Angus Fire, Broughton Hall Estate, Craven District Council, Keelham Farm Shop, Peel Entertainment, Principle Healthcare International, Superfast North Yorkshire and Yorkshire Housing.

Also worthy of a special mention are the staff at Craven District Council, who have worked so hard to make these awards the success that they are.