The City of Orange Eisteddfod received the Community Group of the Year for the program it organised in August 2020 which ran over a four week period.

The Eisteddfod committee was applauded for putting together an event which "boosted the spirits of young performers throughout Orange" at a time when so many other events were being cancelled.

"It was the first competition of its type in 2020 to provide an opportunity for students of music, vocal and dance to showcase their talents," Orange City councillor Scott Munro said.

"Many volunteers of the community did an outstanding job of planning and executing a covid-safe plan to allow a modified version of the event to run. Many of these volunteers took annual leave from their employment to ensure the event ran smoothly."

Committee president Carol Smithers explained that the purpose of the event was to allow kids to grow and learn through performance.

"We did put a lot of work in but there were also some amazing groups [who were nominated]," she said.

The Eisteddfod committee's vocal and instrumental head Ruth Harrison added that the group was very grateful to the community for the award.

The award for Community Event of the Year was picked up by Light Up Central West for its inaugural New Year's Eve laser show at Wade Park which was created when the usual fireworks were cancelled.

James and Kiah Madden accepted the award on behalf of the hard-working committee of volunteers.

In addition to organising the huge sold-out event in just a matter of weeks, the not-for-profit did so under the pressure of needing to keep up with constantly changing COVID-19 restrictions.

Mr Madden paid tribute to the "many" sponsors who made the event not just possible but such a success for the committee and the community after a tough year.

The businesses and organisations who got on board to make the laser show possible included: Kennards Hire, Orange City Council, Newcrest Mining, OCTEC, Orange Aboriginal Medical Service, Triple M, Quest Apartments, Hotel Canobolas, The Gladstone Hotel, Orange Credit Union, Century 21, Madden Partners, GT Digital, Printflow, Manning PR, WorkControl, Crown, Integral Scaffolding and Ecoscape.

"We were only established in November, so were very new," Mrs Madden said of the Light Up Central West committee.

"It was a mad rush... [Restrictions] were constantly changing and we just had to roll with it."