A member of the staff team at Hucknall's Arc Cinema has been nominated for a prestigious national award.

Mark Gallagher, who was until recently the manager of the cinema but has since been promoted to marketing manager over all of Arc's cinemas in the UK and Ireland, has been shortlisted for The UK Cinema Heroes award.

Organised by the UK Cinema association in partnership with Searchlight Pictures, the awards are aimed at recognising the contribution of cinema workers who go above and beyond to promote cinema in their community.

Mr Gallagher is one of ten nominees for the award, with the winner set to be revealed on Monday 30 January.

Speaking to Hucknall Nub News about the nomination, he said: "It's quite overwhelming really. A few of these guys who are shortlisted have been running cinemas for 50 years.

"I genuinely organise events here for the love of film. The extra money that we charge goes towards paying for the stuff I organise. Events wouldn't be successful without customers supporting them, it just wouldn't work. In a cheesy way, I share this nomination with them.

"A couple of customers have sent me screenshots of what they wrote when nominating me, and it's humbling. It's a shame it's an individual nomination because I couldn't do it without my team, I share this accolade with Kelly (Golding, the cinema manager) and the rest of the gang.

"I'm also very grateful for The Arc Cinema who have allowed me the freedom and trust to spend what I spend and organise the events, they've been really supportive and they're a great company to work for."

The award is a one-off organised to promote Sam Mendes' new film Empire of Light which is set in a seafront cinema in Margate in the 80s, champions the cinema going experience.

Promoting this film has already garnered Mark recognition from the President of Pearl & Dean in the USA. This was after he made a promotional video documenting an event at The Arc Cinema in Great Yarmouth. It was one of half a dozen seaside cinemas handpicked to show the film on Monday 2 January, a week earlier than its release date. Mark received a message thanking him for his efforts.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, Phil Clapp, Chief Executive of the UK Cinema Association, said: "We are delighted to see Mark selected as one of the final ten on the UK Cinema Hero short-list. The fact that he was one of those chosen from over 200 individual nominees tells you everything about the contribution he has made not just to his own cinema but – as was amply demonstrated by the number of warm tributes paid by those who took the time to nominate him for the Award – to his local community, many of whom spoke in incredibly positive terms about the many exciting cinema events that Mark had organised."

For more information about The Arc Cinema please click here.