Culture and Creativity Award winners revealed at special ceremony

The Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity Awards 2024 have been announced – with trophies for Writing on the Wall, musician Natalie McCool and the Help Ukraine Song among others.

This year’s winners were revealed at a ceremony at St Helens Saints’ stadium with Olympic gold medallist-turned-TV presenter and Question of Sport team captain Sam Quek as host.

Hundreds of nominations were whittled down by judges to 47 finalists across 15 categories in the fifth annual awards which celebrate the best of culture and creativity across the whole city region over the previous 12 months.

Natalie McCool and Stealing Sheep were named Artist/Creative of the Year, while Runcorn’s Andrew Curphey Theatre Company was handed the coveted Arts Organisation of the Year award, and Africa Oyé was announced as People’s Choice winner in the category voted for by the public.

Broadcaster Roger Phillips and stage and screen veteran Elsie Kelly were presented with Judges Inspiration Awards, with Kelly handed her award by her Benidorm ‘on-screen’ son Johnny Vegas.

Meanwhile Liverpool Culture Company’s Claire McColgan was the recipient of a Special Recognition Award.

Above: Elsie Kelly with Johnny Vegas. Top: Paul Duhaney of Africa Oyé with the People's Choice Award. Photos by Wes Storey/LCRCA.

Other winners were: James Gillaspy (Inspirational Young Person), NML’s House of Memories on the road (Innovation), Christopher Butler (Innovator of the Year), Dr Simon Abrams, lead for Anfield, Everton and Aintree Community Innovation Team (Health and Wellbeing), Imagine Bamboo is Everywhere (Environmental), Liverpool Learning Partnership (Improving Education and Learning), Liverpool Lighthouse (Community Cohesion), Help Ukraine Song (International Reach), Writing on the Wall’s Write to Work Project (Preparing for Work Ahead), Future Yard CIC (Business in the Arts), and Cath Shea (Borough of Culture Star of the Year).

The Culture and Creativity Awards, were founded in 2019 by City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram as part of his pledge to invest 1% of the combined authority’s budget in cultural activities.

Above: Roger Phillips with Phil Redmond and Sam Quek.

He said: “I launched these awards because I wanted to shine a spotlight on the incredible individuals and businesses who go above and beyond every year to help make our area the UK’s cultural capital. Their exceptional talents help to enrich all our lives and make our region one of the most vibrant and exciting places to live, work, study, visit, or do business in.

“To put it simply: creativity is in our DNA. It’s why I specifically set aside 1% of our funding especially for cultural activity, the first scheme of its kind in the country, to support cultural initiatives across our area.

“All our winners and finalists have played a part in ensuring our region’s culture has the maximum possible impact on our residents’ lives – a massive congratulations to every single one of them.”