The work of child contact services following the pandemic continues to be outstanding and we want to recognise this through a special awards ceremony following the business of our AGM in September.
Child contact services around the UK have faced challenges keeping their services running during the cost-of-living crisis and continue to support families at breaking point dealing with additional pressures not envisaged five years ago. They are an absolute credit to the child contact centre movement and to NACCC.
With this in mind, we want to hear your stories about what has been happening in your area and celebrate the work of individuals or organisations you may know or be working with. You may know of innovative practice helping the changing needs of families, people going above and beyond the call of duty, or crucial acts to prevent service closure. There is no limit to the things that we will consider when reviewing nominations.
The nomination categories include:
The Chair’s Award for Innovative Practice. This award will be given to a person or organisation who has innovated in recognition of the changing needs of the people who use the service. The winner of the award will have come up with an idea that meets a specific need and be delivering this on to the children and families that use this service.
Stan’s Award for Voluntary Service. This award will be given to a volunteer. This person may have given many years of volunteering to a service, they might have done something amazing that was beyond the call of duty, or they might have achieved something outstanding through their voluntary work (fundraising for example).
Charlie’s Award for Staff Service. This award will be given to a paid person, or student on placement, who has made an outstanding contribution to the services being offered by an organisation. They may have overcome a specific challenge or adversity, they may have achieved something unexpected, or it might be that one person who always goes beyond the call of duty to support children and their families.
CEO’s Award for Sustainability. The winner of this award might be an organisation, or an individual. There will be evidence of making significant changes to ensure that the service still exists to serve children and families in the future. They might have done this by fundraising, achieving a tender, widening services offered, improving income generation, recruiting younger volunteers, by innovating to overcome a challenge, or any other thing that has helped to ensure the longevity of a service.
Please use this online form to nominate individual staff, volunteers, or contact services. You are welcome to make more than one nomination if you like.
Nomination form https://forms.office.com/e/bVSy0SCLJP
Deadline for nominations: Friday 18th August 2023
Elizabeth Coe NACCC’s CEO will then shortlist the applications received to make the very difficult decisions on who should receive the awards. Any centre that wins an award (including staff and volunteers from that centre) will have the use of a special logo to use on their literature, providing they clearly state the year of the award.
Do share this amongst your networks (including any parents, professionals, children, and anyone who knows your service) – spread the word far and wide!
