Hundreds of people gathered at Liverpool city centre's Crowne Plaza Hotel on Thursday night to commend the 10 people, organisations and projects chosen as the crème de la crème of the regeneration world on Merseyside.

The Strictly Regen! Awards recognise the continuous work of the Housing Market Renewal and The Working Neighbourhoods Fund projects across Liverpool, Sefton and Wirral and the difference they make to local communities.

There were more than 60 entries across the six main categories which were nominated by a variety of organisations. The winners were selected by independent judging panels. The awards then honour four Champions, one for each of our areas plus a NewHeartlands Champion.

Pauline Davis NewHeartlands Managing Director said:

"It was a fabulous evening and we are delighted to have the opportunity to commend the people and projects who work so hard in the Housing Market Renewal communities to support the programme. We are now into the 6^th year of HMR and have seen a lot of progress made over those years. We are happy to say that we have many satisfied residents but recognise that there is still a lot of work to be done and we will continue to strive to achieve our goals and meet the needs and aspirations of residents."

Strictly Regeneration! Awards 2009 winners:

Excellence in Design and Quality

Tranmere & Rock Ferry - Wirral Council

Best Practice in Community Involvement

Community Champions - Sefton Council

Good Practice in Neighbourhood Management

Jigsaw - Making a difference - JIGSAW Neighbourhood Solutions

Creative Communities

Belonging - "The Gathering" - South Central Neighbourhood Management

Excellence in Innovation

Reach Out - Involve Northwest

Best Practice in Partnership Working

The Big Tidy Up - The Riverside Group

The Liverpool Champions Award

Norma Williams

Norma Lee

The Sefton Champions Award

Linacre Methodist Mission

The Wirral Champions Award

St James Centre

The NewHeartlands Champions Award

NewHeartlands Residents Panel