Winners of 2014 CYP Now Awards revealed on celebratory night

Storybook Dads emerged triumphant in a fiercely contested category against other charities. In the past year it has reached nearly 18,000 people, including 11,500 children, to improve levels of contact and literacy among parents and children.

The charity now operates in more than 100 UK prisons including young offender institutions, and runs in women’s prisons as Storybook Mums.

It secured one of 21 awards at a glittering ceremony last night at the Grand Connaught Rooms near Covent Garden, central London.

Borough of Poole’s Starting Out, Together It’s Child’s Play resource won two of the categories – the Early Years Award and the Early Intervention Award.

The Hideaway Youth Project, based in Moss Side, Manchester, won this year’s Youth Work Award.

The judges also awarded a ‘Special High Commendation’ for the Cafcass Intake Team, independent of the categories.

The Intake Team was created to improve the process of safeguarding children and families in private law proceedings through early intervention.

This has allowed Cafcass to receive applications from the family court centrally, to be screened by a dedicated team of family court advisers within 24 hours of receipt of the case. It previously processed applications in more than 90 offices with inconsistent rates and different methods for collecting safeguarding information.

Opening the ceremony last night, CYP Now Editor-in-chief Ravi Chandiramani said: “We live in a culture in which the failures in working with children and young people are made very public. The successes in transforming their lives are usually private, so we must share the excellent practice and salute these achievements. This year’s Awards received a record number of entries and competition was as fierce as ever."