The ninth Pride in Medway awards reach their climax on Saturday at a presentation evening.

Moving tales of devoted care, service to the community and personal courage will be told during the ceremony at the Medway universities’ Pilkington Building.

The 2009/2010 Pride in Medway campaign was launched in June and between then and the closing date in December, more than 70 nominations were received in categories ranging from young hero to green champions.

All the nominees were invited to a presentation event at Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham, earlier this month when they received a certificate from Medway deputy mayor Cllr Barry Kemp.

Since then, a panel of judges has tackled the difficult task of picking a list of finalists who will be at tomorrow’s gala night. From those, a shortlist has been drawn up and the overall winner will be selected from that list.

Whoever is chosen will follow last year’s winner, teenager Jo Balk, from Lordswood, who stood out for the mature way she has campaigned on youth issues and represented the views of young people.

Jo, a former chairman of Medway Youth Parliament, was described as an “inspiration to young people” by her MYP colleague Sam Day.

This year’s finalists range in age from six to 95. Newsreader Geoff Clark will again be master of ceremonies.

Pride in Medway is sponsored by the University of Kent, mhs homes, Medway Council, E.ON and the Medway Messenger. Power firm E.ON are new to the sponsors list this year.

Medway Messenger senior news editor Sarah Clarke said: “This has been another great Pride in Medway campaign and I’m really looking forward to the gala night. It will be fascinating to see who has been picked as the overall winner.”

Find out who is this year’s Pride in Medway winner in Monday’s Medway Messenger plus a picture special on the gala night next Friday.

Pride in Medway nominees, page 29.