These residents are being recognized by the mayor for their contributions to the City of London

A City of London sign is seen in this undated file image. (File)

The annual Mayor’s New Year’s Honour List, celebrating exceptional Londoners and their philanthropic work has been announced.

Mayor Josh Morgan released the list of 14 honourees Saturday who are being recognized for their achievements in a variety of categories including arts, sports, environment, heritage and the recently added “distinguished Londoner” category.

“These individuals truly represent the best of London. While they seek neither praise nor attention for their efforts, they are undeniably worthy of both recognition and celebration,” Morgan said. “Those being honored this year have made our community better in a multitude of ways, not the least of which is their ability to inspire Londoners through acts of kindness and goodwill.”

The 2023 honourees are:

• Ashton Forrest – Accessibility
• Beverly Farrell – Age Friendly
• Karen Schindler – Arts
• Edward Medzon – Distinguished Londoner
• Jason Rip – Distinguished Londoner
• Sydney Vickers – Distinguished Londoner
• Joe Cardillo – Distinguished Londoner
• Charlene Doak-Gebauer – Distinguished Londoner
• Padre Frank Mantz – Distinguished Londoner
• Carl Cadogan – Diversity and Race Relations
• Tom Cull – Environment
• John Manness – Heritage
• Nawaz Tahir – Humanitarianism
• Roop Chanderdat – Sports

The Mayor of London’s annual Honour List started in 1976 with the recognition of contributions to the arts. Since 1989 added categories of diversity and race relations, the environment, heritage, housing, humanitarianism, persons with disabilities, safety and crime prevention, accessibility, age friendly and sports have been added.

City council also added the “distinguished Londoner” category in 2019 to recognize residents who have made important contributions to the city trough acts of goodwill, community collaboration, and volunteerism.

Honourees are named by city council based on the recommendation of advisory committees or community organizations.