WINNERS of the first Best of Darlington awards were announced last night, in a ceremony attended by some of the leading figures from across the borough.

Thirteen of the people from across Darlington who have dedicated themselves to making the borough more vibrant were commended for their efforts at the TFM Darlington Arena.

Two of those winners, who had been judged to have made the most significant contribution to the community throughout last year - David Cox and Kevin Nicholson - were crowned the Citizen and Young Citizen of the Year.

Mr Cox was seen as having made an outstanding community contribution through setting up and developing The Forum Music Centre into one of the North-East's leading live music venues.

Kevin, 17, was the Darlington Member of Youth Parliament last year, and helped develop the town's youth assembly and raise awareness of youth democracy and involvement in the UK Youth Parliament.

The awards - which are sponsored by Darlington Football Club, organised by Darlington Partnership and supported by The Northern Echo and Darlington Borough Council - have already been hailed as a success, and calls were last night made for them to become an annual event.

Representatives of each of the event and category sponsors attended, and award winners were joined by family members and friends, and representatives from the community or society they had served.

The event was compered by Peter Barron, the Editor of The Northern Echo, who was also head of the judging panel.

Other judges - Ada Burns, chief executive of Darlington Borough Council; Nonnie Crawford, director of public health at Darlington Primary Care Trust; Alan Charlton, chairman of the Friends of Darlington Memorial Hospital; Councillor Stella Robson, Mayor of Darlington; Ian Rogers, chief officer of Darlington Council for Voluntary Service; and Steve Rose, chief executive of Darlington Partnership - also attended.

The winners list in full is:

* Young person - arts: Anna Reed

* Young person - against all odds: Daniel James

* Young person - contribution to the community: Red Hall Young People; Kevin Nicholson

* Contribution to business - Darlington Building Society

* Young carer - Christopher and Lynsey McCullock

* Carer - Carol Woodcock

* Contribution to the arts - David Cox

* Contribution to the community - David Preston

* Neighbour - Ron Hick

* Volunteer - Alastair Campbell

* Sportsperson - Eleanor Givens

* Public Servant - Christine Dickinson.

For a full account and photographs of the awards ceremony, see The Northern Echo on Monday.