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CJA Awards 2020 open for nominations

We are pleased to announce that the CJA Awards 2020 are now open for nominations.

The CJA Awards celebrate individuals, organisations, journalists and digital champions who have made a significant contribution towards creating a fair and effective criminal justice system, and is generously supported by the Hadley Trust.

Now in its sixth year, we are delighted to announce that the CJA Awards 2020 will feature a number of new award categories and cash prizes.

We know many organisations and individuals have had to innovate and adapt this year to continue to deliver services and influence change throughout the pandemic. We hope this years’ awards will be an opportunity to showcase and recognise that creativity and tenacity.

Previous winners of the Outstanding Organisation Award include the Zahid Mubarek Trust, which works to improve race equality in prisons, and DIVERT, an initiative that supports young people in police custody into employment, diverting them from the criminal justice system. Previous winners of the Outstanding Individual Award include Marie-Claire O’Brien and Barry Flanagan, who both use their lived experience to help people leaving prison.

The categories and prizes for 2020 are:

  • Outstanding National Organisation will receive £3,000, and the runner up with receive £1,000.
  • Outstanding Local / Regional Organisation will receive £3,000, and the runner up will receive £1,000.
  • Outstanding Individual will receive £1,000, and the runner up will receive £500.

We will also have our Outstanding Lifetime Achievement award selected by CJA trustees. Last year this was awarded to Barry and Margaret Mizen MBE, who set up the charity ‘For Jimmy’ in memory of their son.

The CJA Media Awards has also now opened for nominations. The Media Awards celebrates journalism and digital media that has reported on criminal justice sensitively and constructively, and that has contributed to a better understanding of criminal justice in society.

Previous winners include David Cohen of the Evening Standard, for his special investigation into the public health approach to tackling youth violence, and the Bird Podcast, which provides a platform to those in prison to talk about their experiences.

Last year’s Outstanding Journalist was Adele Robinson from Sky News for her documentary on the work of Circles of Support. This year, we are pleased to announce a new Outstanding Documentary category. The documentary format allows for a deep exploration of criminal justice issues, they often reach a wide audience, and there have been many fantastic examples in the past year.

The categories and prizes for the CJA Media Awards 2020 are:

  • Outstanding Journalism
  • Outstanding Digital Media Champion
  • Outstanding Documentary

The awards ceremony will take place in mid to late November. It will be held via Zoom due to restrictions on large gatherings.

The closing date for nominations is Sunday 18 October 2020.

Presenters and judges to be announced.

For more details on how to apply, please visit our CJA Awards and Media Awards pages.

To see previous winners, visit our CJA Awards 2019 page.

We look forward to hearing from you!