Award Categories

This award is open to all qualified social workers who have made a positive impact through their outstanding work with children and families.

This award is open to all qualified social workers who have made a positive impact through their outstanding work with adults.

This award is open to all newly qualified children’s social workers with less than one year’s experience who have made a positive difference to the lives of children and families through their outstanding work.

This award is open to all newly qualified adult social workers with less than one year’s experience who have made a positive difference to the lives of adults through their outstanding work.

This award is open to all multidisciplinary social work teams who have made a big difference through their outstanding work with children and families.

This award is open to all multidisciplinary social work teams who have made a big difference through their outstanding work with adults.

This award is open to team leaders, department managers or directors who are responsible for children’s social work teams.

This award is open to team leaders, department managers or directors who are responsible for adult social work teams.

This award is open to mental health social workers and AMHPs (Approved Mental Health Professionals) working in both children’s and adult services. Whether through creative, compassionate or effective multi-disciplinary work, this category is for individuals providing outstanding support in a challenging and complex area.

This award is open to social workers who demonstrate a commitment to challenging injustice, seek to equalize the position of different social groups and challenge discriminatory systems.

This award celebrates an individual who has dedicated their entire working life to social work and has consistently made a positive difference within their community.

This award is open to all students studying social work at Higher Education (HE) level who are showing outstanding potential in their studies.

This award is open to social workers who have successfully coached and mentored students to develop their skills in social work.

This award is open to all social work practitioners and managers in local authorities and partner organisations across the social care sector.  To be eligible for this Award, candidates must be carrying out practitioner-led research and/or helping to build a research culture in a relevant social care setting. You can enter this Award as an individual or as a team.

The ‘Winner of Winners’ The Social Worker of the Year Award’s Board of Trustees will choose the Overall Social Worker of the Year from the individual category winners.