Today we can proudly reveal the winners of the inaugural Beccles and Bungay Journal awards.
Earlier this month, we asked our readers to nominate their candidates for the awards' eight categories, such as pub landlord of the year and business owner of the year.
We then whittled down the army of entries to just two or three in each category and asked our readers to vote for them.
And our readers did not disappoint us as hundreds of votes poured in for each of the eight categories.
Beccles and Bungay Journal editor Reece Hanson said: "We wanted to launch these awards because there are so many amazing people and groups in our area who deserve recognition for all of their tireless efforts throughout 2021.
"The awards, from the nominations to the voting, have been received brilliantly by our readers, with dozens of nominations and hundreds of votes pouring in.
"Everyone nominated in each category was a well-deserving winner and it must have been tough for our readers to pick between them.
"The community spirit across our towns and villages is very much alive and kicking after another tough year, and should give everyone great hope for 2022."
The winners are:
Pub landlord of the year:
Michelle and Trevor Payne, Ingate
Business owner of the year:
Victoria Jermany, Parlour Made
Teacher of the year:
Danny Burton, SET Beccles
Community hero of the year:
Helen and Chris Steed, WLOG Rising Stars
Moment of the year:
Beccles Carnival
Fresh idea of the year:
Beccles Community Hub
Uniformed hero of the year:
Gilly Wright, Beccles Hospital
Young person of the year:
Toby Smith
We will be profiling each of our winners online over the coming days.
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