EXCITEMENT is building for the South Wales Argus Health and Care Awards which take place in two weeks.

Our special awards presentation event will take place at Chepstow Racecourse on October 19.

One of the 15 award categories that will be awarded on the night is the Health Campaign of the Year Award which is sponsored by the Stroke Association.

The award is open to both internal communication campaigns as well as external initiatives, public information campaigns or work sharing evidence or research findings.

Rhodri Davies, the Stroke Association’s head of influencing and communications for Wales, said: “As an organisation that works to deliver services across the Gwent region, we work closely with multiple organisations, and see at first hand how hard individuals across health and care work to provide excellent and innovative services.

“The awards are an exciting opportunity to learn more about what is happening within the health care sector, see where and how innovation is taking place and learn how this is benefitting patients within Wales.”

There are three finalists in the running for the award.

Marie Curie, who provide care and support for people living with any terminal illness, made the final for their #TeamLauren campaign.

They aimed to sign up 600 people to become donors for the charity, while raising awareness of the work of Marie Curie nurses.

The campaign took over Cardiff Central Railway station for eight weeks and featured palliative care nurse Lauren James, who works at the hospice in Penarth.

The Mayberry Pharmacy has helped almost eighty percent of the patients who signed up to the 2016 Stop Smoking Health Campaign to give-up nicotine for good.

By using social media and partnerships they have the highest percentage of patients that they have helped quit smoking in the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board.

The Monmouthshire Games is also finalists for their work in delivering a range of sports around the county.

The aim is to get children active, teach them new skills as well as healthy eating and the impact of role models.

The programme, which was launched in summer 2016, takes place in Monmouthshire’s four leisure centres and has seen 6,200 attendances since its launch.

The winner of the award will be announced at the presentation event which will be hosted by television presenter, GP and author Dr Hilary Jones.

Best known for his work on breakfast shows TVAM and GMTV on ITV, Dr Hilary Jones is now health editor for the channel’s breakfast television and can regularly be seen on Good Morning Britain.

To find out more about the awards visit southwalesargus.co.uk/healthandcareawards/news.