Ethical awards launch

Whether any of our wildest dreams (or worst nightmares) come to pass remains to be seen.

As well as looking forward, the New Year is also an excellent opportunity to look back and celebrate some of the achievements of the past year.

2008 may go down as something of an annus horriblis in economic terms but there was much to applaud elsewhere, from Barack to the Beijing Olympics.

Sunday sees the launch of one of our favourite events, the Observer Ethical Awards in association with Ecover.

We’re always thrilled to see the standard of entries we receive and this year our stellar judging panel includes Colin Firth, pictured, Ken Livingstone and Deborah Meaden.

As well as voted categories for awards such as Ethical Politician Of The Year and Local Retailer Of The Year, there are also categories for individuals and businesses to enter, such as Conservation Project Of The Year and the Ecover Ethical Kids award.

The project aims to reward small grass roots initiatives as well as the big name ethical campaigners like Jamie Oliver and Al Gore.

More information on entering will be available from Sunday at www.observer.co.uk/ethicalawards. We’re already looking forward to the awards party in June. Until then, if you know of an ethical or sustainable initiative in the Wharf area, drop me a line and I can feature it in a forthcoming column.

Whether the recession and economic downturn continue to overshadow climate change remains to be seen. This year promises to be a big year for green issues, culminating in the Copenhagen summit.

Do you or your company have an environmentally friendly product or service you’d like featured in this column? Let us know by contacting Seventeen, a sustainable alternative for your event management needs, at andrew@seventeenevents.co.uk.