IT is once again time to celebrate all the people that help make Ulverston great.

On the eve of the Heart of Ulverston Awards 2018, The Mail in partnership with GSK is shining a light on all that is good in the town.

And as a town that likes to party, this ceremony is a highlight of the year set in the crown jewel of Ulverston, the Coronation Hall.

These awards are extra special. They are in Ulverston, for Ulverston and about Ulverston.

Their achievements are impressive in isolation, but put together, they paint a picture of Ulverston that will resonate across Cumbria.

Young and old, Ulverstonians are going the extra mile to make the town a great place to live, work and play.

Along with the great businesses, people regularly go the extra mile to help to fundraise for charity, help others in the worst times of their lives, create fantastic events to help bring people together and just be good citizens.

All of the winners were genuinely shocked and surprised that they had been nominated for the awards. None of them deemed themselves as worthy.

But you be the judge. Reading those words it does the heart good to know that with all the terrible things that happen in the world, there are some really good people still doing good things.

Although it did make the judges job incredibly difficult when they got together to try and decide on a winners.

The nominations were numerous and everyone of them could have been a winner in its own right.

But after much deliberation, some wrangling and a lot coffee, the judging panel has come up with a list of winners that will get the rewards tonight.

But every person in these pages can feel great pride that they have been nominated, given that the townsfolk provide the nominations.

Vanessa Sims, The Mail editor, said the awards were a great way for Ulverston to celebrate the great and the good of the town and to highlight some fantastic people and their achievements.

She said: “I have been absolutely blown away by the good deeds of the people of Ulverston.

“It was great to see the amazing number of truly deserving nominations. It really gave the panel a sense of what a close-knit community Ulverston really is. Some of the stories were quite emotional and it was hard to pick winners.

“But congratulations to everyone who has been nominated, you really are the Heart of Ulverston.”