Yesterday we were at the House Lords to hand out awards to the 12 regional winners of our TalkTalk Digital Heroes Awards. The event was a great success, with a number of MPs and peers – including Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw – joining representatives from TalkTalk and digital inclusion charity Citizens Online, along with the winners themselves.
At the event we also announced the overall winner, from those 12, who was crowned our UK Digital Hero for 2009. The overall winner was Gill Farrington from the 50+ Forum in Swadlincote, Derbyshire.
For the past five years, Gill has been arranging IT classes in local schools, giving older members of the community the chance to learn about the benefits of digital technology and the internet from pupils. The scheme helps older generations to get up to speed with technology and to feel digitally included.
But perhaps even more valuable is that the project helps both generations to better understand one another.
For elder members it has helped to breakdown their stereotypes of younger people, and reduced their fear of crime. Meanwhile schoolchildren have been able to improve key skills such as patience and have developed greater respect for their elders.
We felt Gill’s project really captured the essence of the competition. It isn’t just about opening up the internet to those who’ve never tried it before, it’s about using technology to bring about positive social change.
For us yesterday’s awards ceremony was the end of a process that’s lasted several months. Our hunt for Britain’s Digital Hero started in July, when we made our call for entries. From the hundreds of applications, a shortlist of 36 nominees was produced and subsequently whittled down to the final 12 by a public online poll, eliciting over 32,000 votes.
These 12 were then whittled down to one, with Gill being selected as the overall national winner by a judging panel consisting of UK Digital Champion and dotcom entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, child psychologist Prof Tanya Byron, and me.
Each of the winners receives a £5,000 grant to help develop and improve their project, Gill, as the overall winner, receives a £10,000 grant. With this funding we believe many more schemes like Gill’s could be started across her local area and indeed across the UK as a whole.
Congratulations again to them and my thanks to everyone who helped organise this fantastic awards scheme.
The full list of the 12 regional winners is as follows:
- East Anglia: Amanda Smith, Cambridge Housing Society
- London: Bernard Wighton, Richard House Children’s Hospice
- York & Humberside: Dave Wooldridge, New Life
- East Midlands: Gill Farrington, Swadlincote & District 50+ Forum
- Northern Ireland: Sean Og Mac Braoin, Media Ireland
- North East: Paul Atkinson, Apostleship of the Sea
- North West: Paul McCann, Twin Vision
- West Midlands: Susan Smith, Guy’s Gift
- Wales: Helen Iles, Undercurrents Foundation
- Scotland: Wallace Blake, Soar
- South East: Teresa Nissen, The Access Corporation
- South West: Tony Walker, Wolf + Water Arts Company
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