Lawrenny is celebrating its new status as the Principality's top village, having just been revealed as the overall winner of the 2007 Calor Village of the Year for Wales competition. Lawrenny was announced as the regional winner for South Wales in July. Since then villagers have been on tenterhooks, waiting to hear if they could go one step further and clinch the national prize. The final results of the competition were revealed at a glamorous awards luncheon which took place at Skinners' Hall in London on Tuesday with guest of honour, food writer and presenter Sophie Grigson. As the 2007 Calor Village of the Year for Wales, Lawrenny wins £1,500 prize money, which is on top of the £500 the village gained as a regional winner, and a further £1,000 prize money for regional category prizes in People and Communications. With a total of £3,000 to go towards community projects and the kudos attached to winning the title of Calor Village of the Year for Wales, it's no wonder that villagers are celebrating their success! The Calor Village of the Year for Wales competition rewards vibrant, self-sustaining village communities which, irrespective of size, have made the best of local opportunities to maintain and enhance the quality of life for all residents. The competition, which is organised and funded by gas supplier Calor, judged villages on four categories covering People, Business, Environment, and Communications. To win the overall title for Wales, Lawrenny excelled in all four competition categories, beating off stiff competition from the North Wales regional winner - Overton on Dee, Wrexham. Managing director of Calor, Alex Davis commented: "Winning the title of Calor Village of the Year for Wales is a fantastic achievement and the community of Lawrenny should be extremely proud of its success. Only the most vibrant, enterprising and caring communities get through to the final stages of this competition and this year in particular our independent judging team were faced with some excellent villages. "Our congratulations go to Lawrenny and we hope that their success in this competition encourages them to further develop as a community in the years to come. We would also hope that Lawrenny will act as a best practice example for other villages, inspiring them on how to become and remain sustainable." He added: "With another Pembrokeshire village gaining the national title after the success of St .Dogmaels in 2006, Pembrokeshire really is the county to beat in 2008!" Villager Rachel Lort-Phillips, who entered Lawrenny into the competition said, "I'm thrilled to bits. We are one of the smallest villages, but have the biggest heart and that's what we've shown everyone. We all know what a special place Lawrenny is, but now that's been recognised by the Calor competition and we hope to share it with as many visitors as possible. Maintaining a sense of community is very important to us, it why we live here." "We had a village party this weekend to celebrate and almost everyone turned out to play rounders, tug of war, have supper and take part in a Twmpath. It was such a wonderful atmosphere even men who swear they don't dance were seen partaking!" said Jane Davies, also from Lawrenny. Earlier this year it was awarded South Wales Village of the Year, after judges toured the village. They heard how villagers formed a group to bring broadband to the village privately with a Welsh Assembly grant after BT refused to install it. They saw how more than 25 businesses thrive in the village from a high tech film company to a mail order bakery business. They visited the community shop, partly owned by the village and where a fierce campaign was successfully fought to save the Post Office from closure. They were also shown the self- funded sports club and enjoyed a ride in the community mini bus.