Judges face tough task as 118 groups bid for £20,000 Cash for Your Community pot
A total of 118 charities and voluntary groups have applied for a share of our £20,000 Cash For Your Community giveaway – and the judging process has now begun.
A panel of judges from the Shropshire Star and our partners at Enterprise Flex-E-Rent has begun the process of whittling the applications down to a final 50 which will each receive a share of the money.
The deadline for applicants passed at the weekend, and this week the panel began the process of carefully studying each of the bids.
Shropshire Star editor Martin Wright said he was delighted by the interest shown in this year's campaign, and said the early impressions were that the standard of applications was extremely high.
"It is fantastic that there are so many groups in our area that do such good work, and we are thrilled to be working once more with our friends at Enterprise Flex-E-Rent to help them make a difference," he said.
"Deciding which groups will get a share of this year's fund is an extremely difficult process, but reading about the work that these organisations do for people in Shropshire and Mid Wales is also immensely rewarding."
The judging panel, which is now starting its deliberations, is made up of Andy Maxwell and Sam Williams of the Shropshire Star's circulation team, and Will Henderson, Andrew Hill and Tom Macdonald of Enterprise Flex-E-Rent.
Mr Maxwell said: "This year's applications are real quality, it is a very difficult task."
The 50 successful causes will be announced on March 3, and readers will then be invited to decide how much money each organisation will receive by collecting tokens printed in the Shropshire Star. The amount of money each group gets will depend on how many tokens they collect.
Last year, Wellington Cottage Care Trust and Radnor Valley Little Dragons Day Nursery were the two biggest recipients, each receiving almost £2,500 from the fund.
The Harry Johnson Trust, which helps children receiving cancer treatment, took nearly £2,000.
Visit our partners Enterprise Flex-E-Rent's website here at www.flexerent.co.uk
Keep up with all our Cash For Your Community news at shropshirestar.com/cfyc
