RSPH | RSPH | Should I apply for an RSPH Health & Wellbeing Award?

After a year away, RSPH is excited to once again host our Health and Wellbeing Awards. Recognising the most innovative, impactful, and important endeavours in the public health sector over the last 12 months, these are a celebration of the fantastic work that is happening across the UK to positively contribute to the health of the nation.

But, as anyone who works in public health understands, the sector is broad and multifaceted, including all kinds of efforts, initiatives and programmes that promote better health and wellbeing.

That begs the question: should you apply for a Health & Wellbeing award?

In short – yes!

If your work has a public health element and you feel that it has made an impact in a way that deserves recognition, there is likely a category that applies to you.

2022 RSPH Health & Wellbeing Award winners Good Boost and Swim England

What are the Health & Wellbeing Awards categories?

Our awards categories span a wide range of public health interventions and initiatives aimed at promoting the health and wellbeing of the UK. Find out more below, along with insights into past winners.

Arts & Health Award

We know that arts matter hugely to public health. Opportunities for expression are a contributor to mental wellbeing in of themselves, and the creative sector is a fantastic vehicle to share ideas that can improve our lives.

In 2021, we selected Noise Solution CIC for the Arts and Health Award because it embodied exactly that idea. By pairing vulnerable young people with professional musicians to create music through Self-Determination Theory, Noise Solution is able to mentor and grow skills while improving wellbeing and motivation.

Community Health Development Award

Across the UK there are brilliant place-based public health interventions happening at a community level. We recognise those programs through our Community Health Development Award, which in 2022 we presented to Good Boost and Swim England.

Their Aqua rehabilitation app utilises community swimming pools as therapeutic spaces, helping to aid recovery for people with a range of musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions before and after surgery.

Health & Wellbeing in Workplaces Award

For many of us, work is one of the primary places that public health plays a role in ours lives, and a proactive approach to staff wellbeing can be the difference between a good or a bad employer.

National Grid Grain LNG’s understanding and care about the role it plays in its employees’ health fit that bill exactly, winning it the 2022 Workplace Health and Wellbeing Award. By weaving together workplace health with local outreach and corporate responsibility, Grain LNG forged greater ties with the community and bolstered staff wellbeing.

Health at Every Age Award

Public health initiatives support good health and living well throughout different stages of life.

That’s why we award projects such as NEON (Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition), the 2021 Health at Every Age winner. This venture aims to use Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) to bolster health knowledge within communities in East London, for whom children of South Asian origin have a far higher risk of obesity and poor nutrition.

Healthier Lives Award

Programs and interventions that enable communities to live healthier lives are at the heart of public health.

In 2021, we awarded Breathe Therapies for their innovative approach to the health of the people of Lancashire. Using a holistic, nurse-led approach to eating disorders, mental health, obesity and wellbeing, the organisation personalises its support through bespoke plans and daily contact for those who need it.

Mental Health & Wellbeing Award

Each year RSPH celebrates the promotion of mental health throughout life and work to prevent mental illness. Suicide prevention charity R;pple does just that, earning it our 2022 Mental Health and Wellbeing Award for its tool to intercept access to harmful materials.