A regional daily has launched an award in memory of a columnist who died of cancer.

The Jersey Evening Post has announced the launch of the Gary Burgess Award, which will honour an inspirational person on the island who has “selflessly stepped forward as a guiding light for the community”.

Gary, pictured, died on New Year’s Day this year aged 46, 14 months after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis.

It will be presented as part of the Pride of Jersey awards, which are organised by the newspaper.

JEP editor Andy Sibcy had discussed the launch of the prize and criteria for entrants with Gary prior to his death.

Andy said: “I discussed the award with Gary in autumn last year after he was crowned Community Champion at the 2021 Pride of Jersey awards, the climax of a very emotional awards-night ceremony

” Gary helped me come up with the criteria for the award and loved the idea that others would be recognised for the work they did for the community.”

Gary had served as a columnist on the JEP since July 2015 in addition to his main job as a presenter on ITV’s regional news programme for the Channel Islands.

Andy added: “Gary was a huge figure in the island and had many friends across the media, not least because he used his many talents to bring something special to all of them – print, TV, radio and the digital world.

“The Gary Burgess Award will be presented at the discretion of the judges to an individual who has shown inspirational community leadership.

“They may have been someone around whom people have rallied in the face of a shared threat or challenge and who has brought people together, or who ‘changed the weather’ or ‘captured the zeitgeist’ in the island through their actions for the benefit of others.

“The criteria are flexible and can be interpreted by the judges in relation to a diverse range of people and circumstances, but the recipient should immediately feel like the right decision for those watching, an acceptance that somebody has demonstrated the ‘X-factor’ on behalf of all or some in the Island.

“It’s about championing. It’s about being on the side of ‘the people’, about action and leading by example.”