Social Worker of the Year Awards 2024 open for entries

The Social Worker of the Year Awards 2024 have opened for entries.

Eighteen categories are up for grabs this year in the England-based scheme, alongside the overall social worker of the year prize.

New this year is an award for practitioner-led research, which is open to social workers and managers who have carried out research or helped build a research culture within their organisations.

Organising charity Social Work Awards Ltd has also replaced the previous digital transformation in social work category with one for technology-enabled lives and innovation in practice.

This is for social workers, teams or local authorities who have sought to improve the lives of people with lived experience through the use of technology.

Meanwhile, the charity has dropped the previous supporting children in education prize.

Entries are open until 12pm on 3 June, after which entries will be shortlisted by the awards’ judging panel of social work experts, people with lived experience and former winners.

You can enter the awards here and read the entry rules here. The full list of categories is below:

• Children’s social worker of the year
• Adult social worker of the year
• Newly qualified children’s social worker of the year
• Newly qualified adult social worker of the year
• Team of the year, children’s services
• Team of the year, adult services (including multidisciplinary teams)
• Team leader of the year, children’s services
• Team leader of the year, adult services
• Mental health social worker of the year
• Approved mental health professional (AMHP) of the year
• Social work student of the year
• Practice educator of the year
• University social work lecturer of the year
• Practitioner-led research award
• Technology-enabled lives and innovation in practice award
• Supportive social work employer
• Social justice advocate of the year
• Lifetime achievement award