Mr McCrossan received a standing ovation at the annual awards ceremony on Saturday night where he revealed that, while it had been an honour to be involved with the awards for the past six years, it was time to hand responsibility on to someone new.
"It's time for someone else to take over," he said. " We want new blood in. I've enjoyed the work that's gone on since 2002 and I've been overwhelmed by the response of Derry people. It's the people who have made this event the social highlight of the North West calendar. The awards are firmly established now and have been hugely successful. We hope that this year the amount of money that's been raised for the Foyle Hospice will touch £200,000."

In 2002, Martin McCrossan decided to start up the awards after his friends Dessie and Mary McCallion invited him to an awards ceremony in Donegal.

"It was then I realised the potential of such an event to raise funds for the Foyle Hospice," he said.

He also paid tribute to the dedicated work from the committee workers of the awards, who he said have borne many of the financial costs of running the event.

"I'd like to thank my wife Sharon, Rosemary Hargan, Eamon and Denise Crossan, Katrina Delaney, Gabrielle McGee and Patti Holly."See event coverage on pp22/23