The Categories

1.         Outstanding advocate sponsored by Peter Edwards Law

This category recognises people who truly make a difference to the world through their advocacy practice. We are looking to celebrate individuals whose contribution has directly led to improvements or change for people or organisations. This could be someone who has:

• consistently gone above and beyond what is expected
• made a difference over a period of time
• raised standards within the sector
• shown extraordinary committment and passion for advocacy
• reached out to and worked with individuals/communities who have previously had barriers to accessing advocacy support

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2.         Outstanding service

This category recognises services that are making a difference in a local area.  We want to showcase the very best in service delivery. This category also recognises developments and improvements within how advocacy is delivered.  We want to celebrate creative and innovative ways services are evolving their support.  This could include services that:

• are exceptionally well ran
• transform the way users are heard by health and care services
• use and support volunteers in outstanding way
• actively address equality issues in the provision of local advocacy support
• have improved
• have developed innovative ways to measure, evaluate or deliver their advocacy 
• have successfully developed partnership working
• have used the law to seek change
• provide quality ongoing support, training and supervision to their advocates

3.         Best co-production

This award recognises best practice within co-production. Co-production is about working in equal partnerships with people who use services and carers.  We want to hear from services who are leading the way in using co-production to design, deliver and evaluate the advocacy service. This could include:

• involving people who use services or their carers in the governance of organisations
• supporting people who use services or their carers to act as advocates
• supporting people who use services or their carers to get involved in designing and monitoring provision
• self advocacy
• actively involving people who may not traditionally find it easy to access advocacy

4.         Equality and Diversity

Equality and Diversity is about making sure that people from all communities are included and treated fairly. We want to hear from services leading the way in serving diverse communities, forming partnerships with community organisations and supporting a diverse staff group and volunteers.

Equality is a legal framework to protect against discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people with protected characteristics.  Diversity is the valuing of our individual differences and talents, creating a culture where everyone can participate, thrive and contribute.” (source: http://www.hscic.gov.uk/article/2674/Equality-and-diversity accessed June 2016)

This could include:

• Demonstrable use of monitoring data to reflect on outreach strategies
• Partnership working
• Changes in practice to meet access needs of specific clients or client groups
• Successful advocacy challenges that have led to changes in services to improve equality and diversity outcomes for people using those services

5.         Best supporter

This award focuses on people who do not directly deliver advocacy but who contribute to and improve standards within the sector.

This could be:

• a commissioner who has shown exceptional committment to the delivery of advocacy
• a professional who has supported advocacy (perhaps through promoting advocacy or responding positively to advocacy)
• a service user, carer or volunteer who has championed advocacy or raised awareness
• a trainer, consultant or expert who has helped services or advocates improve
• a legal professional who has worked alongside advocacy to make a difference

Further guidance on judging criteria is also available.