Culture Awards reward North East creatives in style
Mar 25 2009 by Sam Wonfor, The Journal
The third annual Journal Culture Awards saw the best of the North East creatives rewarded in style last night ... Sam Wonfor reports.
CELEBRATING the best in North East culture is not a bad way to spend an evening. And there aren’t too many events which will fit this bill better than The Journal Culture Awards.
Last night the great, good and downright wonderful of the region’s cultural community gathered at Northern Stage in Newcastle for the third ceremony to reward the best of 12 months of North East culture.
Fifteen awards were presented in diverse categories, including individual awards for Visual Artist of the Year (won by Laura Lancaster); Writer of the Year (Paul Batchelor); Performing Artist of the Year (The Futureheads); and Best Newcomer (Alex Charrington). In addition, the best events were given well-deserved plaudits, with Durham Enlightenment taking the award for Best Overall Event. Details of all winners and finalists are in this supplement. But it wasn’t all about awards.
As well as taking pleasure from applauding all that was great about 2008, the audience of 400 were also treated to performances.
North East performance poet Kate Fox performed a custom-written offering, Folkworks trio GAF put in a set to tap your feet silly to, while North East supergroup, Sharks Took The Rest, with Newcastle singer songwriter Beccy Owen, got great applause.
And students of Newcastle College’s Performance Academy performed work created in response to Northern Stage’s recent performance to Look Back In Anger.
The Journal editor Brian Aitken said: “Last year, 2008, was the year when Liverpool bathed in the limelight of being European Capital of Culture, although no one in the North East really had time to lament over what might have been.
“It was simply another world-class year at the office for the region’s vibrant and ever-burgeoning cultural scene, and we are privileged to be able to reward many of those involved tonight.
“We’ve had an unprecedented level of entries this year and look forward to even more for 2009. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists.”
