

The shortlist for the 2019 Northumbie Awards has been announced, with finalists coming from Norham in the north of Northumberland, to Haydon Bridge in the south west.
Finalists, who all created some special form of activity or celebration specifically for Northumberland Day 2019, will head to the Northumbie Awards presentation evening 2019, to be held in the Olympic Suite of the White Swan Hotel, Alnwick on Wednesday August 28.
Prizes of superb and bespoke fused-glass trophies, designed by the Helen Grierson Studio in North Broomhill, will be presented to the winners, with these much-loved trophies already gracing the trophy cabinets of 2017 and 2018 winners.
Sponsors of these awards for 2019 have been: the Northumberland County Show, Northumberland County Council, Langley Castle Hotel, The Pilgrim Spirit Company, the Helen Grierson Design Studio, Ken Bradbury, The County Day Company and Catapult PR.
Additionally, Heart of Achievement awards, also designed by Helen Grierson and awarded to runners-up, have been sponsored by the Alnwick Rum Company, The White Swan Hotel, Alnwick and The Cookie Jar, Alnwick. More Hearts of Achievement sponsors may yet come on board.
The event is also made possible by the support of the White Swan Hotel, Alnwick, which has generously provided free room hire and sponsored a Heart of Achievement Award, for a category runner-up.
The awards event will this year be combined with news and launches of new initiatives for 2020, as well as showcasing what participants did in 2019 and showing off some of the Matchbox Memory boxes that were created by schoolchildren and adults, to capture, in just a few words, what Northumberland means to them.
New awards for this year are the Northumberland Flag Challenge Award and the Northumberland Day Tonic award. The former rewards the best photo taken with the Northumberland Day flag, whilst the latter is for uplifting events that took place on Northumberland Day itself.
The shortlist is as follows:
Northumbie Awards 2019 – The Shortlist
Best Designed Event (Sponsored by the Helen Grierson Glass Studio)
A Taste of Northumbria
Ashington Rocks
Blyth Riverside Festival
Melanie’s Tearoom
The Craster Arms
Best Pub, Café or Tearoom (Sponsored by The County Day Company)
Melanie’s Tearoom, Newbiggin-on-Sea
Tomlinson’s Café and Bunkhouse, Rothbury
The Craster Arms
Best Foodie Event or Initiative (Sponsored by Ken Bradbury)
A Taste of Northumbria
Melanie’s Tearoom
The Craster Arms
Best Community Event (Sponsored by Northumberland County Show)
Beadnell
Haydon Bridge
Norham
Seahouses
The Peter Roberts Above & Beyond Special Recognition Award (Sponsored by Langley Castle Hotel)
Katie Archer, Beadnell
Ailsa Campbell-Shiel, Golden Gate Boat Tours, Seahouses
Pauline Wallis, Haydon Bridge
The Jill Bradbury Award for the Most Inspiring School (Sponsored by Catapult PR)
Newsham Primary School, Blyth
Seahouses Primary School
Shaftoe Trust Academy, Haydon Bridge
Whittingham C of E Primary School
The Northumberland Day Flag Challenge Award
Sonja Gregory, The Hytte
Kirkharle
Anton Phillips
Jack Metcalf – Her Majesty’s Armed Forces
The Just the Ticket Award (Sponsored by Discover Our Land, Northumberland County Council)
Ashington Rocks
Friends of Ridley Park
Headway Arts
Hexham Racecourse
Norham Village
Smile Through Sport
The Northumberland Day Tonic Award (Sponsored by the Pilgrim Spirit Company)
Ashington Rocks
Norham – Turner & Castle Tours
Pilgrim’s Way Walk – Footsteps Northumberland
Return of the Puffins – Lundgren Tours
The Craster Arms – Music & More