The BASW Social Work Journalism Awards

1. Written journalism in national media
2. Written journalism in regional/local media
3. Broadcast: national media
4. Broadcast: regional/local media
5. Trade press
6. On screen: TV or Film featuring social work

Anyone! Nominations can come from:

• Social workers
• Members of the public
• Individual journalists and media organisations can nominate others or themselves

You can nominate multiple times too.

The awards welcome nominations from anyone with an interest in promoting fair, accurate and responsible reporting of social work in the media.

The awards seek to recognise reports that show an outstanding understanding of social work and the role of social workers. 

This could include the complex issues practitioners and the people they work with face; the challenging context in which they work; and the difference social workers make to people’s lives.

Whether you have read, listened to or watched something great on social work or are a journalist that has created a piece, we want to hear about it!  Your nomination could be recognised in the BASW UK Social Work Journalism Awards.  

It's part of the association’s wider campaign to improve public perception of an often misunderstood and misrepresented profession. 

As well as seeking journalists to put forward their own work or that of colleagues, we also want social workers and members of the public to nominate work they believe is worthy of praise.

• Email your entry to awards@basw.co.uk
• State which category your entry is for and provide a link to the content or share more information
• You can nominate any content for the period 1st September 2025 to 4th September 2026
• Deadline for entries is 4th September 2026

Here are the categories:

1. Written journalism in national media
2. Written journalism in regional/local media
3. Broadcast: national media
4. Broadcast: regional/local media
5. Trade press
6. On Screen: Fiction TV or Film featuring social work

You can nominate any content for the period 1st September 2025 to 4th September 2026

Deadline for entries is 4th September 2026

The winners of each category will be announced at the Awards Night event at BASW UK Conference on the 27th October 2026

Dave Callow;

Dave Callow is General Secretary of the Social Workers Union. Prior to this role he worked as senior lecturer at the University of Lincoln with programme leadership responsibility for both the Masters and Apprenticeship Social Work degrees. He previously practiced as a Children and Families Social Worker

David Brindle;

David Brindle is a former public services editor of The Guardian and edited its Society Guardian supplement. He has been a board member of a number of charities and social enterprises and is an adviser to the Centre for Care, based at the University of Sheffield. 

Maggie Fogarty;

Maggie Fogarty is a journalist and award winning television producer, having made UK television factual programmes for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. A former Social Work Today senior reporter, she has written features for a number of broadsheet national newspapers and magazines covering social affairs/health stories.

Maria Leedham;

Maria is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and English Language and am interested in student and professional writing and corpus-assisted discourse studies as a means of exploring textual data. Current research projects include the exploration of Young Adult fiction and a project aiming to build a corpus of student writing and a related corpus of tutor feedback.

Rebekah Pierre;

Rebekah Pierre is the Deputy Director of Article 39, a care-experienced author, and award-winning campaigner specialising in children's social care. Her work has featured in The Guardian, BBC News, as well as various books, podcasts, and academic journals. A registered social worker of 10 years and a previous Professional Officer at BASW England, she possesses a unique duality of lived and professional experience.

Her latest book, Free Loaves on Fridays: The Care System as Told by People Who Actually Get It, is the largest known anthology of the Care system in the UK. 

Shahid Naqvi;

Shahid Naqvi is editor of Professional Social Work magazine. He has been a journalist for more than 30 years, with extensive experience in print media.

Background

The BASW Social Work Journalism Awards were launched in 2023 to celebrate creative, informed and sensitive reporting that demonstrates an outstanding understanding of the profession.

The winners are announced each year at BASW's annual UK conference.

The BASW Social Work Journalism Awards is the UK’s first ever award scheme to recognise high quality reporting of social work in the media. 

We recognise social work is a difficult and complex subject. BASW, as the national organisation for social workers, wants to recognise journalism that demonstrates an in-depth understanding of the field. There is excellent work out there by journalists who deserve praise. By launching these awards, we aim to acknowledge this and also help improve the public’s perception of our profession.

The awards are being led by BASW and supported by SWU which together with the Campaign Collective has published Guidelines on media reporting of social workers. The guidance has been approved by press regulator IMPRESS.