CYP Now Awards 2022: entry deadline extended

It’s a great pleasure as well as an honour to be involved in judging the Children & Young People Now awards. 

As all judges say, but it’s true, the decisions are very difficult in the face of such an impressive array of really good applications! But it’s in the nature of competitions that a winner does have to be picked and it’s a weighty responsibility.

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• CYP Now Awards: The benefits of entering

What do I look for? I suppose the most important thing is that the work is making a difference. So, evidence of impact on the people it’s intended to help is essential – sometimes it can be transforming the experience of a discrete group of people; sometimes making smaller, but important, differences to the lives of a great number.

Making an impact on professional practice; developing new approaches; contributing to improving systems or changing how we think about complex problems - all of this is bound to impress!

New ideas and best price practice are exciting, but so too is good use of long-standing practice in new ways, or for new groups of people.

In all cases it is important to show evidence of the difference being made, both quantitative and qualitative. Stories and accounts from individuals, be they users of service or professionals, always bring ideas to life and make them real for the reader.

It’s easy to see the benefits of focused projects. But it’s also important to recognise when the dogged application of support in difficult circumstances, or for people who have historically seemed hard to help, make things better too.

I know from my own experience managing organisations, the impact that winning an award can make. We all like to be told we are doing well and the impact on individuals is intense: a highlight of their working life. Applying for an award brings benefits, as people pause to describe what’s good about their work and what they have achieved. There is a really positive impact on morale when there is something to be proud of.

But awards are also important for the sector as a whole and wider workforce. These awards not only celebrate best practice but also spread knowledge and information. New ideas are triggered along with approaches that can be adopted by others.

These awards reflect the very best of work being done in the children and young people sector and rightly hold a central place, shining a spotlight on the best of what we do. I’m looking for what comes forward this year and seeing some really exciting work. Good luck to everyone who has applied!

Click here to apply for the Children & Young People Now Awards 2022. Entries close at 23:59pm on Friday 1 July.