TONIGHT is the night when all the Worcestershire Education Award finalists will gather for a gala dinner to celebrate their achievements – and, of course, the winners will be announced.

The Worcester News' Worcestershire Education Awards 2019 awards, which is run in partnership with the University of Worcester, were launched back in January (pictured) and hundreds of nominations flooded in during the following months.

Members of the public were encouraged to nominate people and organisations working in education throughout the county, via the Worcester News website.

Once the deadline for nominations closed, a panel of judges then read through all of the entries and selected this year’s finalists, with three in each category, as well as the winner.

Now in its third year, the awards have increased in popularity each year with a rise in the number of nominations submitted, and there have been more than 300 in 2019.

Newsquest's events director Sue Griffiths said: “It has been really exciting to see all the nominations come in. The build up to the awards ceremony has been amazing, and we look forward to seeing all the finalists this evening.

"It is a night to hear from our finalists and celebrate before announcing the winners."

Celebrated journalist Rob Stokes, the former editor of the Western Daily Press, will be compering on the night.

The guest speaker is Alex Flynn who, despite having Parkinson's disease, took on a challenge to run, cycle, swim and walk 10 million metres to raise money for a charity which funds research into the condition.

Tonight, the Worcester News will be running alive blog from the awards ceremony at the Worcester University Arena. You can follow and find out the winners at

worcesternews.co.uk

Worcester News editor Michael Purton said: "The awards get bigger and better every year and it's been amazing to hear about all the incredibly dedicated education workers in the county who are deserving of our praise."

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