2025 nominations open for the Impact and Innovation Award
We are delighted to announce that nominations for the OA’s 2025 Impact and Innovation Award are now open!
Previously called the Outstanding Contribution Award, the award was created to recognise and celebrate the outstanding work that so many in the ombudsman community do. Recent winners include Ruth Gray for her work leading the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman’s academy team and Evan Lerwill for his work in embedding a human rights-based approach across the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman’s investigations.
To ensure that the award continues to highlight the good work across the ombudsman landscape, we’ve listened to your feedback and made some changes for 2025:
- Rebranding: We’ve changed the name to “Impact and Innovation Award” to better reflect the award’s purpose
- Enhanced Promotion: We’ve created additional promotional materials, including a video and a poster, to make it easier for you to raise awareness within your own organisation.
- Dedicated website page: We’ve created a new page in the OA Community to bring together all the information about the Impact and Innovation Award, including the promotional materials, the nomination form, and further information about previous winners and what it meant to them to be recognised for their achievements.
- Enhanced Recognition: The winner will also receive a £100 dining voucher.
If you know someone who deserves recognition for the impact they’ve had or the innovation they’ve introduced – whether through implementing a successful project or strategy, an impactful investigation, or an innovative approach that has improved the user experience – please consider nominating them for this award.
The award winner will receive complimentary attendance at the OA’s Conference (9-11 June 2025), where the award will be presented, be celebrated in the OA’s Newsletter and on our ‘That OA Thing’ Podcast, providing a platform to share their achievements with the wider ombudsman community, and will receive a £100 ‘dining out’ voucher.
Nomination Process:
Nominations must be supported by two members of the OA, which can be any member of staff from an OA Ombudsman Member scheme, from an OA Complaint Handler Member scheme, or an Associate Member. The judging panel will review all nominations and select the individual who has made the most significant impact or innovation in the sector.
The 2025 judging panel will include:
- Margaret Kelly, OA Chair (and Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman)
- Mariette Hughes, winner of the 2024 Outstanding Contribution Award
Nominations should be submitted to Donal Galligan donal.galligan@ombudsmanassociation.org by 20 March 2025, using the attached nomination form.
Help us recognise the dedication, creativity, and impact of those driving positive change and innovation in the ombudsman sector – submit your nomination today!