IT IS a prizegiving with a difference and last night, the Streets Ahead Awards showed everyone how to party.

As host Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken told the packed People’s Palace Winter Gardens: “Forget posh frocks and penguin suits - this is an awards night for people who don’t mind getting their hands dirty and just getting things done.”

The seventh year of our awardwinning community campaign has been a fantastic success.

Over the last 12 months, Streets Ahead has inspired men, women and children all over the city to get involved.

Thanks to the fantastic support of our generous partners Glasgow City Council, City Charitable Trust, Scottish Fire and Rescue and City Building we have helped showcase the wonderful work being done in communities across Glasgow.

It culminated in our end-of-year party and awards celebration last night.

The evening belonged to the mighty St Roch’s FC, a junior football club which has become a much-loved community hub, supporting people of all ages with a variety of initiatives.

The volunteers who run it, led by manager and club secretary Andy Cameron, were gobsmacked to win Best Community Initiative and overall winner on the night.

Andy said: “We honestly cannot believe we won our own category, never mind the overall prize. It’s fantastic for the club and it would be great if our success is a catalyst for other people to get involved in their communities too.”

The award for Best Garden was presented to Robert Tibbetts, from Castlemilk, while Fans of Barrowland Park in the east end picked up Best Clean Up Campaign.

Friends of Kelvindale Railway Station won the Glasgow City Council Environmental Initiative and the Concrete Garden won Best Community Garden.

The Green Glasgow Business Award went to Common Wheel and the Schools Award was presented to the lively pupils of St John Paul 11 Primary in Castlemilk.

Our campaign’s seventh year was a busy, exciting time for groups and individuals across the city.

We brought you a raft of stories from every corner of Glasgow, showcasing the fantastic work being done by community-minded men, women and children in the north, south, east and west.

We caught up Eco Drama, a precious Streets Ahead winner, who are continuing to help children all over Glasgow understand more about nature on their doorstep; and met the pupils of Dalmarnock Primary in the east end, who run regular litter picks and environmental initiatives, and visit Riverside Care Home to spend time with some of its older residents. We also told you about St Anne’s Primary, too, who have joined forces with local businesses to create a wildflower garden and a vegetable plot.

Our campaign’s roots are in community gardens and environmental initiatives, but its remit has extended over the years to other projects which reach out to the whole community in a variety of exciting and inspiring ways.

Achieve More! Scotland is the perfect example and we were delighted to tell you their story back in January.

It started out as an after-school club for a handful of children and now it delivers programmes in 30 communities in Glasgow, with 82 different nationalities taking part in 40 venues, reaching 2500 people every week!

It sums up what Streets Ahead is all about – bringing people together to improve neighbourhoods for all.

Evening Times Editor Donald Martin said: “The Evening Times, and its fantastic partners Glasgow City Council, City Charitable Trust, Scottish Fire and Rescue and City Building, know our citizens are the lifeblood of this great city.

“Over the course of the past 12 months we have had the pleasure of celebrating and supporting some of the hundreds of people, clubs, companies and charities making a positive difference within their communities.

“I’m delighted Streets Ahead has struck a chord with so many. It has inspired people, fired imaginations, brought neighbours together and encouraged everyone to work towards the common goal of building better communities.”

It was up to fantastic young singer Ciaran Heggarty to get the party started with a roof-raising vocal performance, and Erskine sisters Ellie and Emma McConnachie charmed the whole audience with a beautiful rendition of the Lumineers song Ho Hey to round things off.