Pride of Jersey Award for Community Leadership created in memory of ITV journalist Gary Burgess
A special Pride of Jersey award has been created in memory of ITV journalist Gary Burgess.
Gary died on New Year's Day after a long-documented journey with cancer.
His honesty during challenging times, including his own terminal diagnosis, led to the social media campaign '#BeMoreBurgess' as the community showed their support.
Gary was honoured at last year's Pride of Jersey ceremony with the Community Champion of the Year Award, in recognition of his journalistic work throughout the Covid pandemic.
The new annual Gary Burgess Award for Community Leadership will be given to an inspirational person who has selflessly stepped up to support islanders and bring people together.
The recipient will be chosen by Gary's friends and media colleagues before being announced on awards night in mid-September.
Gary's husband, Alan Burgess, says: "Gary and I were both hugely touched by the warmth and love shown to him by islanders throughout the final few years of his life, and his receiving the Community Champion award at the 2021 Pride of Jersey awards ceremony was a particular highlight.
"Being in the room that night, it felt like the people of Jersey simply wanted to say 'thank you' to Gary and recognise the contribution he had made to the community, even when facing challenging personal circumstances.
"My hope is that this special award can similarly give the judges an opportunity to say 'thank you' to deserving individuals on behalf of all of us. The potential recipient might be someone who has been nominated for or won another award that evening, but the judges could also award it to someone whose achievements or contribution to the community does not naturally fit into any of the other categories.
"Put simply, it is an opportunity for Gary's media colleagues to single out and tell us, their audience, a particularly inspirational story, which feels like an entirely fitting legacy for Gary."
Jersey Evening Post's Editor Andy Sibcy said: "I discussed the award with Gary in autumn last year after he was crowned Community Champion at the 2021 Pride of Jersey awards, the climax of a very emotional awards-night ceremony.
"Gary helped me come up with the criteria for the award and loved the idea that others would be recognised for the work they did for the community."
Karen Rankine, Head of News and Programmes at ITV Channel Television, added: "Gary was such a champion of people, in every community that he was part of throughout his life.
"It is wonderful to be able to recognise others who are also champions within our community with this very special award in Gary's name."