CELEBRATING our culture The seventh Journal Culture Awards were held in spectacular fashion at Durham Cathedral last month.

The evening of April 22 saw 15 of ceramic artist Helena Seget’s bespoke creations given out to the cream of the North East’s cultural crop in categories such as Visual Artist of the Year, Performance of the Year, North East Museums Award, Arts Council Award and Writer of the Year.

All the winners are listed to below, and we are especially delighted to see out editor, David Whetstone’s name under the Special Contribution Award.

Alison Clark-Jenkins, regional director, Arts Council England, took great pleasure in springing the surprise on the 55-year-old who has been The Journal’s arts editor for 22 years and is the founding editor of the Culture Magazine.

Giving him the award, she said: “Dave probably thinks he’s just described the cultural renaissance of the North East. What he’s actually done is played a big part in making it matter.”

As well as being given the opportunity to applaud the best of the North East’s cultural output, the awards also showcased a bill of diverse and first class entertainment. The Unthanks performed an extract from their Arts Council Award-winning project Songs from The Shipyards; The Lindisfarne Story offered a chapter from their upcoming show of music and memories; The Futureheads recreated a slice of their nominated performance at Durham Cathedral from August 2012; while breakdancers Bad Taste Cru offered a preview of their new production, Faust.

And that wasn’t all. Our wonderful host for the evening, actor Chris Connel took to the performance stage with his Pitmen Painters co-star Phillippa Wilson for two readings from Live Theatre’s 40th anniversary production, Tyne.

As Anthony Sargent, general director, The Sage Gateshead, put it: “The Journal Culture Awards are our great annual celebration of the region’s most exciting arts highspots, but even by their own high standards last night was exceptional – a magnificently apt venue!”

We couldn’t have put it better ourselves and look forward to doing it all again next year.

Here's your potted guide to who went home with the awards:

PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR sponsored by Barbour

Rapunzel, balletLORENT, Gala Theatre, Durham

PERFORMING ARTIST OF THE YEAR sponsored by Port of Tyne

Hannabiell Sanders

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR sponsored by Nova International

Mariam Rezaei

NORTH EAST MUSEUM AWARD supported by Newcastle Gateshead Initiative

Curious Case Of... Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle

BEST ARTS AND BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP sponsored by Northumbrian Water

Northumbria University and various Cultural Partnerships

VISUAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR sponsored by Ward Hadaway

Richard Rigg

WRITER OF THE YEAR sponsored by Ryder International

Jason Cook

ARTS COUNCIL AWARD supported by Arts Council England

Songs from the Shipyards: The Unthanks and Richard Fenwick

BEST EVENTS all sponsored by Virgin Money

BEST EVENT NORTHUMBERLAND

Peace Camp, Dunstanburgh

BEST EVENT TYNESIDE

Whitley Bay Film Festival

BEST EVENT TEESSIDE

Africa Express

BEST EVENT DURHAM

A Sign in Space composed by John Kefala Kerr, produced by The Forge as part of BRASS: Durham International Festival

BEST EVENT SUNDERLAND

Legion, Kelly Richardson, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art

BEST OVERALL EVENT

Peace Camp, Dunstanburgh

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION TO ARTS AND CULTURE

David Whetstone