Arts

The 2008 winners are announced...

From the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games in September 2008 until the start of the London 2012 Games, the UK is holding a four-year cultural celebration. The Medway Culture and Design Awards form part of Medway's cultural offer as we count down to the 2012 Games.

Building on the success of the Medway Design Awards held in 2006, the Medway Culture and Design Awards 2008 celebrated the thriving cultural sector in the area and the impact that high quality, diverse building and landscape design can have.

The best of Medway’s growing creative and architectural talent received a total of 18 trophies, covering a spectrum of culture and design categories, at the awards ceremony at Rochester’s Corn Exchange on Thursday, 27 November.

Big winners on the night included sculptor Paula Groves, who received the Outstanding Achievement prize, and Chatham-born fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, who recorded a special video message to receive her Lifetime Contribution Award.

The Strand Mural was named Medway’s Best-Kept Secret, Made in Medway scooped the Best Newcomer prize and Michael Peevers received a special Citizenship Award in recognition of his long service as chairman of the Medway Industrial Archaeology Group and for being the driving force behind the restoration of the Brook Pumping Station in Chatham.

Riverside Country Park pipped the Strand Mural to the post in the People’s Choice award by just one vote, after votes cast by the ceremony audience were added to those cast by Medway Messenger and Extra readers.

Full list of winners and judges’ commendations

	New Media Winner Simon Williams Judges’ Commendation Medway Renaissance Concept Branding project		Design Winner Diocesan Office, St Nicholas Church, Rochester
	Fashion and Design Winner Rüdiger Leopold		Heritage, sponsored by Crest Nicholson Winner – Re-use and conversion Slip 3 – The Big Store, at Chatham Historic Dockyard Winner – Restoration Selale Restaurant building, High Street, Chatham Judges’ Commendation The Arch, High Street, Rochester
	Music Winners City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra Roger Sayer from Rochester Cathedral		Regeneration Winner Rochester Riverside Crane Judges’ Commendation New Art Centre, Chatham Pilkington Building, Universities at Medway
	Literature Winner Zara Carpenter		Best Newcomer Winner Made in Medway Judges’ Commendation Magherita Gramegna Museum of Tales – Mark Barnes
	Heritage Winner Art in Churches 2007 Judges’ Commendation Guildhall Museum, Rochester Royal Engineers Museum, Gillingham		Medway’s Best-Kept Secret Winner Shadowplay – Strand Mural
	Visual Arts Winner Hei People Public Art Project 2007		People’s Choice 2008, sponsored by Arriva Winner Riverside Country Park
	Performing Arts Winner Loop Ed Dance Company		Outstanding Achievement Winner Paula Groves Judges’ Commendation Aidan Dooley
	Partnership Working Winner New Art Centre, Chatham Judges’ Commendation HeART Medway Chinese Peace Flag Project		Citizenship Award Winner Michael Peevers
	New Building, sponsored by SEEDA Winner MHS Broadside Judges’ Commendation Gillingham Building, University of Kent		Lifetime Contribution Winner Zandra Rhodes

Every winner received a bespoke trophy designed and crafted by Tim Meacham, course leader at the University for the Creative Arts, with the help of staff and students.

They were designed to reflect the water-inspired theme of the awards, featuring individual droplets of water taken from different locations along the River Medway encased in acrylic cubes.

Congratulating the winners, leader of Medway Council, Cllr Rodney Chambers, said: “Medway is changing and our continuing social and physical regeneration projects will not succeed without cutting-edge design and the development of local talented individuals and organisations.

“It is through this dedication to creativity that we are on our way to establishing Medway as a centre of learning, culture, tourism and enterprise.”

Medway Culture and Design Awards 2008 were co-ordinated by Medway Council’s Arts Development Team, its regeneration unit Medway Renaissance and the Medway 2012 Team.

They were supported by a number of organisations, including:

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