The seven winners beat hundreds of projects from across the UK to win the prestigious title of the UK’s favourite Lottery projects at the event, which was broadcast live on BBC One.

There are seven categories in the awards, each reflecting an area of Lottery funding. The winners of the National Lottery Awards 2012 are:

• Best Arts Project: BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Housed in a former flour mill, BALTIC is an international art centre and an example of a successful culture led regeneration
• Best Education Project: Lifelong Learning at Salthome. The Lifelong Learning project at Saltholme in Teesside offers events and activities that encourage people’s enjoyment, understanding and appreciation of wildlife
• Best Environment Project: Community Space Challenge. The project offers young people at risk of offending the opportunity to improve their local community through clean-up and make-over events across England
• Best Health Project: Bogside & Brandywell Health Forum, a healthy living centre in Northern Ireland which has pioneered community-led health improvement since 2001
• Best Heritage Project: Durlston Castle. The castle is a key attraction on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, having reinvigorated the local area’s tourism and generated jobs
• Best Sport Project: Back to Netball, a project which encourages women of all ages to take up the sport across England
• Best Voluntary/Charity Project: New Forest Nightstop, a charity which provides free short term emergency accommodation for homeless young people aged 16-24 around the New Forest

Representatives from all 21 finalist projects mingled with celebrity guests at this year’s star-studded awards event, including host John Barrowman and actress Tamzin Outhwaite, Bond and Strictly Come Dancing star Colin Salmon, and Spice Girl Melanie C. A short film on each of the winners was played during the special BBC One programme.

Congratulating the winners, John Barrowman, said: "The National Lottery has been changing lives for 18 years, raising £30million every week for large and small projects across the UK. The National Lottery Awards are a fantastic way of celebrating the enormous amount of hard work that goes into making these projects a success. All the finalists are making a real difference to people and communities every day with their Lottery funding. Lottery players should be proud of the life-changing impact their money has."

About the National Lottery Awards

The National Lottery Awards are an annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery-funded projects. All the projects entered in the competition had already received Lottery funding. The awards recognise the difference that these projects make to local communities, and celebrate the achievements of the people behind them. For more information on the Awards and the winners across all seven categories visit National Lottery Good Causes' website.

Notes to editors

The National Lottery has been changing lives for 18 years. Since it began in 1994, over £29billion has been raised for Good Causes by Lottery players and over 390,000 grants have been made across the UK.

In addition to the Lottery funding that it has already received, the winning project in each of the seven categories received a £2,000 cash prize to spend on its project.

All voting was independently adjudicated and verified by Electoral Reform Services.

The runners-up for the National Lottery Awards 2012, in association with the Telegraph, are:

• Runners-up of the Best Arts Project: Achieving Something Special, Drumatik
• Runners-up of the Best Education Project: Jubilee Time After Time, PLUGGED IN Magazine
• Runners-up Best Environment Project: Harvest Brighton & Hove, Watershed Landscape
• Runners-up of the Best Health Project: Be Healthy, The Bionic Ear Show
• Runners-up of the Best Heritage Project: Bute Park Restoration, Curzon Community Cinema
• Runners-up of the Best Sport Project: Longridge Activity Centre, Wheels for Wellbeing
• Runners-up of the Best Voluntary/Charity Award: FREEWHEELING @ Adrenaline Alley, Kidz Unlimited

Further information

For images of all winning projects accepting their National Lottery Award, interview requests and all other media enquiries, please contact Michael Thompson on 020 7211 3894 or 07734 295 745.