It is time to reveal the magnificent men, women and children in the running to be crowned Glasgow Community Champions for 2022. 

The public vote to determine the winners of the regional heats opens this week - so it is time to get behind your favourite. 

The Glasgow Times awards - in association with Glasgow City Council, Wheatley Glasgow, Trades House of Glasgow and Merck - celebrate everything that is great about the city and its people. 

Once again, our readers will determine who triumphs in each category in the north west, north east and south areas. 

Today, we announce the finalists for the Team and Uniformed Services categories. 

Tomorrow we will reveal those fighting it out in the Individual, Public Service and Young categories. 

And on Wednesday, it will be the turn of the remaining four categories - Senior, Health and Wellbeing, Sport and School of the Year.  

The public vote will open on Wednesday once all our finalists have been revealed. Details of how to vote will be announced on Wednesday in the newspaper and online. 

It is free to cast your vote and voting closes on November 2.

The winners will go through to the Grand Final at the City Chambers on December 8. 

This year’s Team finalists in the north east are Bluevale Community Club, Ruchazie Pantry and Glasgow Baby Food Bank. 

Glasgow Times: Courtyard Pantry staff and volunteers.Courtyard Pantry staff and volunteers. (Image: newsquest)

Bluevale Community Club in Dennistoun runs a free boxing club, fitness classes, sessions for recovering addicts, youth clubs and more, all with the aim of looking after people of all ages who need support.

The team at Ruchazie Pantry provide high-quality, low-cost food and organise a raft of community initiatives, from gala days and litter-picks to women’s groups and peer support.  

Glasgow Baby Food Bank helps vulnerable parents with everything from formula milk and breastfeeding pads to nappies and clothing.

The 10-strong team are all volunteers and during lockdown helped around 3000 families get the food and equipment they needed. 

In the north west, Woodlands Community, The Courtyard Pantry and Amma Birth Companions are all in the running, while Friends of Southern Necropolis, Awesome Glasgow and South West Arts and Music Project (Swamp) will battle it out in the south. 

Woodlands Community is a beautiful community garden providing a safe space for people to meet, grow and support each other.

The Courtyard Pantry helps people beat food poverty and provides local employment and volunteering opportunities.

Amma Birth Companions has helped more than 200 women from refugee and asylum-seeking communities during pregnancy, and the group also runs parent and baby sessions to help people beat isolation. 

Awesome Glasgow is run by volunteers, who give up their time to raise money for new and existing projects across the city, from established groups helping communities fight poverty to new art projects.

Swamp provides welfare rights advice, mental health support, skills development and a community helpline, which supported more than 2000 families last year.

Friends of Southern Necropolis have transformed the Gorbals cemetery into an educational and environmental hub, helping to teach locals about the history and wildlife on their doorstep, and saving a city landmark at the same time. 

Glasgow Times: Colin Mackie of Friends of Southern NecropolisColin Mackie of Friends of Southern Necropolis (Image: Newsquest)

The Uniformed Services award will be city-wide this year, and the finalists are Willie Anderson and Scott Diamond of the Scottish Ambulance Service, who rescued more than 20 people after an explosion in a takeaway; Thomas McCallum and Courtney Elaine Braceline, also of the Scottish Ambulance Service, who saved the life of a 26-year-old football fan when he suffered a cardiac arrest at an Old Firm game; Police Scotland’s Hampden Community Reassurance Plan, protecting locals from anti-social behaviour around the national stadium on event days; Toryglen Disorder Partnership Initiative, which has helped reduce anti-social behaviour in the area; PC Natalie Pollock, whose detective skills and determination led to the return of stolen community art in the Gorbals; the Gorbals Community Policing Team, who have had a hugely positive impact on the community; Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Police Campus Officers who support staff, run security initiatives and go above and beyond to help patients and workers; and the Glasgow South Campus Officers who work with pupils, parents and the communities of five high schools in Govan and Pollok, running initiatives and summer programmes.