Evening Standard’s Get London Reading campaign wins award for improving the lives of Londoners
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The Evening Standard’s Get London Reading campaign has won the inaugural London First Award for “improvement to Londoners’ quality of life”.
The other shortlisted candidates were Transport for London for the new Routemaster bus, and the Crown Estate for improvements to Regent Street. Introducing the awards at the Globe Theatre last night, London First’s chief executive Baroness Valentine said: “With these awards, London’s businesses are recognising the individuals and organisations that have contributed to making London a leading world city.” David Cohen, Evening Standard Campaigns Editor, said: “Reading is one of the essential life skills and we are delighted to be able to help more than 3,500 London children improve their skills and begin a life-long journey of reading. Credit is due to Standard readers who signed up to be volunteers in their hundreds, giving up their time to go into schools for three hours a week; to our campaign partners Beanstalk who train the volunteers, and to London’s business community and the Mayor’s Fund for London, who have funded this initiative and helped us raise more than £1 million.”