It's that happy time of year again when LARAC gets to give away places to its conference in October. This year we have to thank REPIC for generously funding 18 places at the LARAC 2015 Conference and Celebration Awards in Nottingham on14 and 15 October.
The Awards have always been designed so that at least one new person to recycling from each region can win a free place, with all expenses paid. This year we had eighteen places to give away - so there was a competition for the first 12 places, one for each region where there were applicants, and then a further six places were allocated on a national basis.
How does the scoring work?
Believe it or not - sometimes some regions don't send forward any applicants no matter how many times we remind them - but the scales are always balanced by those regions who send in many applicants. So - how do we deal with that? If you are the sole applicant for your region - you automatically win - no competition there. Then everybody else is scored by three judges who adjudicate independently and then the scores are put together. For each region the highest scorer in that region wins the place. Then the ones who didn't win are grouped together so that the remaining highest scorers fill any regional places where there were no applicants. In that way we have our first twelve. Then the next six places are given to the next six highest scorers - giving us our eighteen. This can lead to more than one person from a single authority winning a place. This year the competition for places was very keen and our judges, Andrew Bird, Carole Taylor and Lee Marshall had an exacting job on their hands. However, they did their job and the winners are listed below.
It is worth reiterating that the scholarship winners get an extra session of seminars the day before conference and are given an extra night's accommodation as well as the full conference and awards package and their travel expenses are paid for by our sponsor, REPIC - so it is a very valuable scholarship in these straightened times. Also, if you didn't win this year - do apply next year as we really do start from scratch each year, not winning one year doesn't preclude you for following years.
The winners for 2015
Josh Black - Cheshire East BC
Laura Almond- Fife Council
James Baughan- Oxford City Council
Amanda Bryden- Durham County Council
Owen Dougherty - Eastleigh BC
Angela Fortnum - Warwickshire CC
Adam Herriott - LB of Hounslow
Diane Hewgill - Staffordshire CC
Carla Johnson - Essex County Council
Louise Kitney - Maidstone BC
Liam Nolan - Calderdale MBC
Jamie Rossi-~Stephenson - Calderdale MBC
Luke Simpkin - Suffolk County Council
Emma Somers - Ipswich Borough Council
Chloe Timmis - Cheshire East BC
Nicola Toulson - Maidstone BC
Christos Tympanaris - LB Hackney
Michael Varellas - LB Hackney
CONGRATULATIONS FROM LARAC AND REPIC
