Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club have re-affirmed their commitment to groundbreaking community projects after securing the Best Community Programme Award at a prestigious London ceremony for the second successive year.

Judges heaped praise on the club’s Positive Futures scheme which beat off competition from Derbyshire, Essex and Durham to earn the recognition.

The club were also handed the award for Best Media Management and scooped Commercial & PR Team of the Year at the ECB Business of Cricket Awards to cap an impressive list of accolades in the wake of a successful bid to host Ashes Tests at Trent Bridge in 2013 and 2015.

“Positive Futures has been hugely successful in tackling juvenile crime and anti-social behaviour in Cotgrave and we are delighted that the impact that it has had on the lives of so many young people has been recognised with this award,” said Trent Bridge Community Sports Trust Manager Tracey Francis.

“We have worked very hard to establish a meaningful community programme that goes beyond the development of cricket and this award is a great endorsement for Mark Clifford who leads the scheme and everyone who has been involved.”

Nottinghamshire’s community commitment featured prominently in their Ashes bid document and the award of the club’s preferred package will serve as a springboard for further innovation.

“We are already making plans to ensure that we harness the legacy opportunities presented by 2013 and 2015 Ashes Tests,” said Tracey.

“When we were awarded the matches there was momentary celebration and then a stark realisation that we have a lot of work to do to grasp the opportunity that we have been given.”

The club’s Marketing & Communications team were praised for maintaining excellent media facilities and high standards of information delivery whilst extending a friendly welcome to visiting media professionals in accepting the Best Media Management award. A total of five nominations in 10 categories helped to secure the Best Commercial & PR Team Award.