Finalists Announced For 2026 Vectis Radio Community Awards
- Dominic Kureen
- Feb 26
- 2 min read
Vectis Radio has announced the finalists for its 2026 Isle of Wight Community Awards.
Now in its fourth year, the annual awards ceremony will take place on Friday 27th March at Caffe Isola, which is also the event’s headline sponsor.
This year’s awards will be presented by the High Sheriff, Jacqueline Gazzard, with a number of new categories introduced for 2026.
Two special awards will also be revealed on the night — one chosen by the independent judging panel and another selected by Vectis Radio.
Station Manager Ian Mac said:
“Once again we have added our own personal thanks to someone who has not only assisted us at Vectis Radio, but works very hard to support community organisations across the Island.
"This award is our personal award to a special person.
“Our very special thanks also go to our headline sponsors again this year, Caffe Isola, who have enabled us to put this event on whilst keeping prices affordable.”
The Finalists
Village Hero Award
Lesley Wheeler, Vectis Wombles
Tim Gibbs, Yarmouth Pharmacy
Rodney “Worzel” Walmsley, Entertainer
Volunteer Of The Year
Janet and John Strickland, Supporting Older People
John Steele, Stenbury Hall – Wroxall Community Association
Mark Wheeler, IW Cat Centre
Fundraising Award
Stephanie Jeffery, Sandown Family Events
Sally Faulkner, Community Spirited Cafe
Peter May, To Be In Her Shoes
Sports Coach/Leader Of The Year
Mark Powell, Brading Town FC
Kay Howard, Vocal Coach
Colin Jackson, Man v Fat Football
Community Project Of The Year
East Cowes Carnival – revived after a thirty-year break by a dedicated group of volunteers
Mindset Bros – a community-led mental health project
Baby Box – providing essential items to support families with children
Island School/Club Achievement
Dance-Vibez, Sandown
Creationz Dance Academy, East Cowes
Young Person Of The Year
Harry Day, Community Spirited Cafe
Darcy Weedall, Sandown Canoe Lake
Thomas Young, Vectis Corps of Drums
Good Neighbour Of The Year
Kathy Barter
Cheryl Burtwell
Overall Community Champion
The Overall Community Champion will be decided by public vote from a shortlist provided by the judges:
Mindset Bros – a community-led mental health project
John Steele – volunteer, Wroxall Community Association
Double Portion Church – a Newport church providing food, practical help and spiritual care
Voting is now open on the Vectis Radio website and closes at midnight on Friday 13th March.
Event organiser Maggie Currie said:
“This year proved difficult once again for our panel of independent judges, who had a tough job sorting through all the applications, and our heartfelt thanks go out to them.
“I am excited to find out how the public voted for the Overall Community Champion. Thank you to all those who have taken part.
“Once again we are able to hold an affordable ceremony that puts the finalists in their well-deserved spotlight.
"Thanks to the continuing sponsorship of Caffe Isola, we have kept the ticket price as low as we can. Please come dressed however you feel comfortable.”
Tickets cost £15 each and are available exclusively from Caffe Isola.
To book, call 524800 or visit 85a St James Street, Newport. Doors open at 6.30pm.
The ticket price includes a welcome drink, with food available to order on the night.
Seeing places like Yarmouth Pharmacy and groups like the Vectis Wombles on the same list as coaches and carers really underlines how broad “community” actually is — it’s not just one sector doing the heavy lifting. Curious how they decide between categories when someone’s doing a bit of everything (which seems common on the Island). On a completely unrelated note, I went down a rabbit hole recently trying to pick colours for an event outfit and ended up on this site; it’s funny how planning for local nights out always turns into a whole thing.
The new categories for 2026 sound like a smart move — it stops the same kind of volunteering getting all the attention and gives smaller, more specific efforts a chance to be noticed too. Also like that there’s an independent judging panel plus a Vectis pick; those often highlight different kinds of contributions. Random aside: the “community spirited” bits made me think of how people share creative tributes online, and I’d seen some fun ghibli ai style images over on a ghibli ai style tool before — totally different context, but same idea of celebrating people in a more personal way.
Nice to see these community awards growing year on year — the mix of “Village Hero” and fundraising-type categories feels like a good snapshot of what actually keeps things running locally. Reading through the finalists list is the kind of thing that makes you realise how many hours get quietly put in behind the scenes. Slight tangent: I was timing how long it takes me to catch up on local radio segments and ended up using this site to figure out whether I could squeeze it into my commute, which feels pretty on-brand for community updates like this.
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