Ascension Eagles Cheerleaders are thrilled to be Finalists for the Spirit of London Award, in the Community Champion category.

Director Shara Brice said, "Thank you to all our supporters who nominated us as Community Champions. We are so honoured to be shortlisted, as top 3 out of 3500 nominations!

Our top three young leaders were invited to 10 Downing Street, to meet with Gordon Brown.

Our top 10 volunteers attended the Black Tie Awards Ceremony at Alexander Palace, alongside celebrities and other inspirational young leaders. It has been an unexpected whirlwind of opportunity, and a fitting reward for all their years of dedicated service. These young leaders are recognized as Britain’s best cheerleaders, and they are committed to investing all they have achieved into the next generation. They give our future generations a high standard to aspire to achieve.”

Summary of nomination: From humble beginnings in Newham's Royal Docks, Ascension Eagles Cheerleaders (AEC) have been recognised as one of the UK's most ethnically diverse and most effective youth programs. Although they placed last in their first competition in 1997, Ascension Eagles have since established themselves as record-breaking, history-making champions, and have been reigning Senior Coed Champions since 1998; no other cheer team in the world has held onto a National title for over a decade.

Much more than just a cheerleading program, AEC are Champions on the competition floor, and in the way they live their lives. AEC Leadership Team coach 130 AEC members twice weekly, year round. PLUS they work with over 2600 other young people annually through London Cheerleading Academy (LCA) outreach. Last season they delivered over 20,000 people sessions through AEC and an additional 25,000 through LCA! Considering most of the Leadership Team are in full-time education, and might have part-time jobs on top of that, it is truly extraordinary that they commit such a significant amount of time to AEC/LCA. The majority of the Leadership Team are also on AEC’s England team, who will be representing Great Britain at the 2010 World Championships, where only the top one per cent are invited to compete.
Over the past year, 20 Leadership Team members delivered weekly afterschool clubs; organised performance events including ExCeL Cheer & Dance Showcase, Newham Schools Festival, Opening Ceremony for Sport England projects and the Mayor's Show. In addition, these young leaders coordinated and trained performers for Wembley FA Cup Final, NFL Wembley, Lord Mayor's Show, Fit 4 Tops teacher training, and numerous community holiday camps.

Watch the video below to see what SOLA created to recognise these young leaders: