About the Awards

The Children & Young People Now Awards have become the gold standard for everyone working with children, young people and families.

In addition to raising the profile of projects and initiatives, the Awards are an opportunity to showcase learning and best practice from across the UK. They recognise initiatives from the public, private and voluntary sector that work with children and young people from birth to adolescence as well as their families.

Initiatives might be aimed at all children and families within a community or targeted at those who are the most vulnerable or disadvantaged.

Crucially, entrants must be able to provide evidence that what they have done has had a positive impact on people’s lives.

We hope you will be inspired to enter the Awards and achieve the wider recognition that your organisation’s achievements deserve.


Who should enter?

Entries should focus on work that was launched, or is ongoing, between 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022. Any organisation, setting or project, whether in the public, voluntary or private sector, can enter relevant work.

However, where the work is delivered by a partnership of organisations, entries must list all the partners involved.

It is free to enter the Awards and entries are invited from across the UK.

Closing date for entries: Friday 24 June 2022


The judging process

A panel of experts and professionals from across the children and young people’s sector will judge the entries. This panel will represent the diversity of agencies and disciplines that make up the sector and the judges will have the knowledge and experience to assess each project according to its objectives and available budget.

They will be joined by a group of young judges hand-picked by Children & Young People Now.

Judges who have a connection with any entry will not be allowed to vote on that entry or lobby the other judges on its behalf.

The judges will be looking for examples of excellent projects, services, teams, and individuals. Each entry must indicate clearly to both the adult and young judges the nature and degree of difficulty faced, and how this was overcome, all backed up with hard evidence. For the best chance of winning an award, be concise, be clear and remember your entry will be judged by young people as well as sector experts.

Judges will look for entries that show evidence of positive impact in the lives of children, young people and/or families. This impact can be described, but also, crucially, should be quantified in some way. Judges will want to know how that impact is measured, and how you are ensuring this impact is sustained over time.

The adult and young judges will study all the entries, looking for examples of exceptional work. The judging teams will discuss the entries and each judge will award their own mark to each entry, with a shortlist drawn up from these marks.

The finalists and winners will be calculated by aggregating the adults’ and young judges’ marks. The adult and young judges will have the right to move entries between categories if they feel the new category would be more appropriate.