When we announced our Community Stars awards, in conjunction with Bradford Council, to find those in the Bradford district who go above and beyond to help those around them, we knew that we would get a good response.

Because although the headlines might sometimes seem dominated by bad news, we regularly feature in the pages of the T&A the stories of those people who do their best to make life better.

From those motivated people who band together to form groups to fight for the preservation of something or to improve the lot of a community, to those individuals who simply take an interest in their neighbours, Bradford is full of great folk.

Even though we were expecting a good response, that doesn’t mean we weren’t amazed and delighted by the amount of nominations, and the number of readers – literally thousands – who voted for their favourites.

As is the case with such events, there can only be one winner in each of our categories, and it was a tough job for the judges to whittle the entries down to a shortlist of three in each section.

It may sound like a cliche, but with such an event there can be no losers. That goes for everyone who was nominated, everyone who took the time to fill in an entry form for a neighbour, friend or someone in their community, and everyone who voted.

The belt-tightening age of austerity we live in often gives us little cheer, but we should all take heart from the Community Stars awards that there is indeed a lot to be thankful for... and who knows, perhaps the inspirational stories from our awards ceremony last night might even spur more of you on to great things.