A WATER safety campaign prompted by the death of a teenage boy has received a national award.

Durham County Council triumphed in the excellence in community engagement category at the MJ Achievement Awards in London. The award recognises the success of the council’s life-saving water safety work including the Dying to be Cool Campaign and riverside improvements in Durham City.

Now in its second year, Dying to be Cool aims to educate ten to 16-year-olds of the dangers of cold water shock, an involuntary and potentially fatal response to sudden immersion in cold water.

Fiona Gosling, whose 14-year-old son Cameron died when he jumped into the River Wear without acclimatising in 2015, has been at the forefront of the campaign.

Last year, she and Cameron’s friends worked with the authority to create an awareness video, which has been viewed more than a million times online. Mrs Gosling, from Crook, went on to deliver assemblies to more than 10,000 children alongside County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service.

The award also recognised the council’s role in the Durham City Safety Group, through which it has introduced new barriers and lighting on the riverside in response to a series of deaths in the river.

Its support of the Royal Life Saving Society’s Don’t Drink and Drown campaign was also acknowledged.

Council chief executive Terry Collins said: “We are really proud to have won such a prestigious national award, especially one that recognises the excellence of the work we do in partnership with our communities.

“We have worked tirelessly with both our partners and residents to make the county’s rivers and lakes safer places to be and also to educate people on the risks they pose and how to behave when in or beside open water.”

In 2015/16, there were two fatalities, five people injured and nine near misses in rivers and open water in the county. By 2016/17, there was one fatality, two injuries and four near misses.

Mrs Gosling said: “It’s amazing to receive national recognition for the hard work everyone has put in. It proves what we are doing is worthwhile.”

Councils from across Britain entered the awards, which were presented by Joanna Lumley last week.