AN awards ceremony has been postponed after someone involved in its organisation tested positive for coronavirus.

Cumbria in Bloom was due to hold its virtual awards ceremony tomorrow, however a positive Covid-19 test has forced organisers to rearrange.

The awards are now due to take place on November 5.

Organisers have been trying to adapt the awards to adhere to social distancing regulations.

"We have been trying to keep Cumbria in Bloom in the limelight. The whole idea is to promote the valuable work of volunteers," explained Liz Auld, Cumbria in Bloom administrator.

"We haven't ran our normal competitions, we haven't been able to do that.

"We had to review the process and ask people to send in projects and photos. We've had 52 different projects uploaded onto the website."

Usually the process of selecting the winners would involve judges going out into communities and choosing their favourite organisations, individuals or sites that promote improvement of horticulture, floriculture and environmental issues in the area. Preparations have already begun on next year's awards.

"We are looking at it at the moment and looking at ways of adapting our normal judging to digital," explained Liz Auld.

"We don't know what sort of situation we are going to be in next year but we are hoping to get things organised and send information out to interested parties."

Covid-19 restrictions have meant the usual format of judging has not been possible.

The Exceptional Effort Awards are as follows:

  • Outstanding Community Participation;
  • Variety of Projects in a Community;
  • Village Gardens;
  • Individual Initiative;
  • School Gardening;
  • Resilience in Difficult times;
  • Wildlife Projects.

Winners will receive a framed certificate.

The rescheduled awards will take place at 10.30am. To see a full list of the projects that have been uploaded to the Cumbria in Bloom website, visit https://cumbria-in-bloom.org.uk/projects.