Everton’s official charity has been nominated for a top award at the ‘sporting Oscars’

Feb 15 2013 by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo

EVERTON’S official charity has been nominated for a top award at the ‘sporting Oscars’.

Everton in the Community’s Safe Hands project has been short-listed in the Best Community Programme category at the 2013 Sport Industry Awards alongside five other high profile schemes, including efforts from BSkyBM and the Cricket Foundation.

The charity’s work has been shortlisted three times in the last four years at the awards, which recognises the best support sport has to offer across a number of areas including marketing, PR, new media, advertising and community. In 2010 it was named Best Community Programme for its pioneering mental health scheme, Imagine Your Goals, and in 2011 for its world-class disability football programme.

Nick Keller, Chairman of the Sport Industry Group, commented: “2012 marked a remarkable year for sport in the UK, with London at the heart of it. But what made this past year so memorable is the work that was put in to ensure that success, not just on the track, field, or pool, but online, on TV, on billboards and in stadia. Being named on the Official Shortlist for the Sport Industry Awards is definitive proof that a team, brand or organisation’s work has been amongst the very best in its field across an entire year.”

Launched in 2012, Safe Hands is a five-year project that targets young offenders in the Merseyside area, aiming to help them integrate back into society after leaving secure care. The scheme will support 150 individuals, both male and female aged between 15 and 21, utilising education, sport, media and the arts, to help get them back on their feet and into training, employment or further education, to prevent them from offending.

The Shortlist will now go forward for consideration by the main judging panel, who will decide the winners in each category. The results will be announced at the awards ceremony on Wednesday, May 2.