CRIMINAL JUSTICE ALLIANCE AWARDS 2019

The CJA Awards celebrate outstanding organisations, individuals, journalists and digital media champions who have made a marked contribution towards a ‘Fair and Effective Criminal Justice System’ which is Safe, Smart, Person-Centred, Restorative and Trusted. The 2019 Awards – generously supported by the Hadley Trust – give prizes of £4,000 and £2,000 to two organisations, and £1,000 and £500 to individuals to support their work.

We’re delighted to announce the winners of this year’s Awards, who were revealed at a ceremony in London on 29 November by Dr. Baz Dreisinger, founder of the Incarceration Nations Network. The winners are:

• Outstanding Organisation of the Year: Circles UK
• Outstanding Organisation Runner Up: Peer Power
• Outstanding Individual of the Year: Barry Flanagan, Recycling Lives
• Outstanding Individual of the Year Runners Up: Shelley, WRAP, and Sofia Buncy, Khidmat Centres Muslim Women in Prison Project
• Outstanding Journalism of the Year: Adele Robinson, Sky News
• Outstanding Digital Media Champion: Bird Podcast
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Barry and Margaret Mizen MBE

Details about the work of the winners, and all those shortlisted, can be found in the Awards brochure – What Good Looks Like.

Photos by Jessica Bernard

Shortlisted nominees for the 2019 CJA Awards were:

Outstanding Organisation:

• Browns Community Services CIC: Transforming the lives of people in the criminal justice system with an Intensive Support Service.

• Circles UK: National body overseeing provision of Circles of Support and Accountability across England and Wales.

• Peer Power: Social justice charity, engaging with the most under-supported children, teenagers and young adults in society.

• Prison Reform Trust, Prisoner Policy Network: Network of prisoners, ex-prisoners and supporting organisations making sure prisoners’ experiences are part of prison policy development.

• Safer Living Foundation: A multi-agency approach to reducing sexual offending and re-offending through rehabilitative and preventative initiatives.

Outstanding Individual:

• Sofia Buncy, Muslim Women in Prison Project, Khidmat Centres

• Barry Flanagan, Recycling Lives

• Gethin Jones, Founder of Unlocking Potential

• Dr Shona Minson, University of Oxford

• Sabrina Parkins, Prison Officer (Unlocked Graduates)

• Shelley, Wales Restorative Approaches Partnership

Outstanding Journalism:

• Claudia-Liza Armah and the Channel 5, 6:30 News Team, for coverage of the impact on children on the imprisonment of their mothers.

• Frankie McCamley, for various pieces, including on maternity wards for victims of rape and babies born addicted to drugs.

• Adele Robinson, Sky News, for the documentary ‘Special Report: Inside the Circle‘ on Circles of Support and Accountability.

• Hazel Shearing, for various pieces on the hidden experience of women in police detention.

• Anushka Asthana and the Today in Focus Podcast Team by The Guardian, for podcasts on stop and search and police chases.

Outstanding Digital Media Champion:

• Bird Podcast, Kate Littler and Nina McNamara, for exploring and educating on criminal justice issues in the UK.

• Brenda Birungi, for various projects including the Straightline podcast and her poetry as Lady Unchained.

• Lady Edwina Grosvenor, for the JUSTICE podcast which explores aspects of the criminal justice system from a range of different perspectives.

• Jon Robins, Editor of the Justice Gap, for investigations and campaigning work on miscarriages of justice.

• Simon Shepherd, Director of the Butler Trust, for ‘The Good Book of Prisons‘ project.

Judging Panel CJA Outstanding Organisation and Individual Award 2019:

• Iqbal Wahhab – Chair of EQUAL
• Marie-Claire O’Brien – CJA Outstanding Individual 2019, Director of New Leaf Initiative CIC
• Dame Vera Baird – Victims Commissioner
• Babafemi Dada – Governor HMP Featherstone

Judging Panel CJA Media Awards 2019

• Danny Shaw (BBC Home Affairs Correspondent)
• Raphael Rowe (Investigative Reporter – Panorama, Netflix, The One Show)
• Penelope Gibbs (Transform Justice, Author of ‘Reframing Justice’)
• Jodie Jackson, (Author of ‘You are what you read’, Constructive Journalism Project)
• Nadine Smith (CJA trustee, young adult)