Spirit of Leeds Award 2008
And the winner is:
In McMillan with Roland Stross, Winner of the 2008 Spirit of Leeds Award
Roland Stross, property developer, emerged from a stong field of contenders as this year's winnder of the "Spirit of Leeds" Award at our biennial Award Lunch held at the Queens Hotel on 24 October in the presence of the Lord Mayor of Leeds.
Guest speaker Ian McMillan gave a very entertaining speech and Andrew Edwards, presenter at BBC Radio Leeds, in his role as Master of Ceremonies ably guided guests through the proceedings.
Thank you to all our corporate and individual members and their guests who attended this year's lunch and helped make this event such an enjoyable and successful occasion.
A full report will be posted here in due course. You can read more about the finalists below.
This year's shortlisted candidates were:
Steven Burt
The highly respected Leeds historian, educational innovator in his work for Education Leeds, project adviser to the Thackray Medical Museum and West Yorkshire Playhouse, and presently, Museum Director of The Royal Armouries.
Roland Stross
Managing Director of the Leeds-based development company St James Securities, responsible for many innovative Leeds developments including The Embankment, the Granary Building, Seacroft District Centre, The Round Foundry and The Electric Press.
Opera North, represented by Richard Mantle
Opera North is one of the country’s most prestigious and successful artistic companies and has brought great credit and enjoyment to Leeds since 1978. It has an extensive outreach programme with over 1000 projects in schools and the wider community.
The "Spirit of Leeds" Award recognises the special imaginative contribution made by an individual, firm or organisation to the enlivening and advancement of Leeds in the spheres of architecture, planning, heritage and amenity.
The Award Lunch is a biennial event and was first awarded in 2000. Previous speakers were Sir Simon Jenkins (2006), Janet Street Porter (2004), David Mellor (2002) and Chris Smith (when Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in 2000).