When we decided to go ahead with this year’s Awards, it was because we felt it was more important than ever, right now, to recognise the work of the most outstanding Hidden Heroes in our prisons, IRCs, probation services and youth justice settings. But we were also rather nervous, under the circumstances, about how many nominations we’d get.

We needn’t have worried… because, in spite of all the challenges the sector is facing right now, we received almost 350 nominations – the second highest number ever – from colleagues, managers, prisoners and service users, all wanting to recognise the extraordinary impact their nominees were making to other people’s lives.

We’d like to say a big thank you to all of you who took part this year, and good luck to all the nominees. Now we, and our Awarding Panel, need to get on and do our thing – it takes a while (it’s not something you can rush) but we’ll keep you in touch with our progress.

Do you know someone who goes ‘above and beyond’? There’s still time to nominate them for a Butler Trust Award, but you’ll need to get a wiggle on because nominations close on 30 June.

Nomination forms can be downloaded from our website – www.butlertrust.org.uk/awards – where you can also find more details about the Awards.

Nominations will need to be signed off via your Local Butler Trust Champion before they can be sent on to us, and the nomination form includes guidance on who you should forward your nomination to.

[Note for Local Champions: if you have any queries about completing the supporting documentation and getting nominations signed off, please contact us as soon as possible (before the 30 June deadline!)]

Nominations are now open for this year’s Butler Trust Awards!

The Awards are presented by our Patron, HRH The Princess Royal, and help give credit where it’s due to people who go above and beyond in their work in prisons, probation and youth justice settings (including volunteers and third-party employees) – and just being nominated shows someone’s efforts have not gone unnoticed.

While we know it is a particularly difficult time for everyone at the moment, it feels more important than ever right now to give credit where it’s due. You can find more about the Awards, and how to nominate someone, in the Awards section of this site. And you can view a short video here.

While we rightly celebrate the extraordinary contributions of the heroes in our NHS and other essential services at this time, the #HiddenHeroes working on in our prisons, as well as their probation and youth justice colleagues, deserve our gratitude too.

But because their work takes place behind the scenes and literally, in the case of prison staff, behind closed doors, they can sometimes feel forgotten.

That’s why we’ve launched a new site – www.HiddenHeroes.UK – to collect together messages of thanks and support from across the country, to show them people do care, and they’re not forgotten.

The site includes messages from prisoners, family members and colleagues, as well as the general public, like:

“We all owe you a massive thank you for what you do every day but especially at this difficult time. Keep safe.” From: J and E, Market Bosworth

“Well done and thank you to prison and probation staff for everything you’re doing at this difficult time. You are all stars! ⭐⭐.” From: Shelley, Surrey

“Thank you for your hard work and commitment in especially difficult circumstances. It is noticed and very much appreciated.” From: Valerie, Loughborough

You can add your own messages there too, or email them to us at info@butlertrust.org.uk, and we’ll add them for you.

The 2019-20 Butler Trust Annual Award Ceremony – our 35^th – was due to be held at St. James’s Palace in London on Thursday, 26^th March, presided over (as on every occasion since our launch) by our Royal Patron, HRH The Princess Royal.

Sadly, of course, we had to postpone the event, which is normally the highlight of our entire year. Yet the primary task of the Trust and its Awards – to highlight outstanding efforts by those working in prisons, probation, and youth justice – feels even more important than ever under the current circumstances. We’re all aware of the heroic efforts of so many who continue to do what they do best on behalf of us all, but one group is rather more hidden than most – in the case of prison workers, literally behind closed doors – and we wanted to do something to mark the Awards, until we can hold them properly at a later date, not only for our deserving winners, but also to underline the vital contribution they, and all those in criminal justice system, make to the fabric of our national life.

So we decided to hold a ‘virtual Ceremony’ on Twitter (@butlertrust) and through our website – following, as closely as we could, the programme we would have followed if we’d been holding it for real… and, unlike the London Ceremony we planned, all were invited to attend.

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