21 March 2019, St James’s Palace, London: The Butler Trust’s 34th Annual Award Ceremony, hosted by HRH The Princess Royal, took place on 21 March, in the State Rooms at St James’s Palace.
The Princess presented 10 Awards and 20 Commendations to a total of 30 staff members and volunteers from prison and community justice settings throughout the UK, and among the 200 guests from across the criminal justice sector were: Secretary of State for Justice, David Gauke; Minister for Prisons and Probation, Rory Stewart; Chief Executive of HMPPS, Michael Spurr; Head of the Scottish Prison Service, Colin McConnell; and the Head of the Youth Justice Board, Colin Allars.
This year’s Princess Royal’s Prize for Outstanding Achievement (the highest Award) went to Senior Governor, David Savage, for the outstanding levels of passion, dedication and courage he has brought to his work at HMP Maghaberry on behalf of both the Northern Ireland Prison Service and the wider community. His impact on the prison has been genuinely transformational.
The 2018-19 Butler Trust Award Winners and Commendees have just been announced. The Awards once again reflect some of the best – and often very moving – examples of the dedication, skill, and creativity found throughout the criminal justice system. Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Patron of the Trust, will present our Winners with their Awards and Commendations at our Award Ceremony, to be held later in the year.
During a year in which prisons again made negative headlines, the Butler Trust’s Director, Simon Shepherd, has been quietly exploring the opposite: what’s positive about our prisons? In an ambitious undertaking, he’s visiting every closed prison in England and Wales to ask individual groups of prisoners, officers, and managers, an unusual question: “What’s good about this prison?”
After a summer spent reviewing and rating the 350+ nominations received for this year’s Award Scheme, our volunteer Sifting Panel met at the end of September to agree the shortlist to go through to the final stage of judging for the 2018-19 Butler Trust Awards.
Although Spring took her time turning up, she arrived in some style – with the early-May Bank Holiday the warmest since the holiday began in 1978. With the World Cup getting closer, temperatures climbing, and long Midsummer nights, we started to wonder if the famous – in our office, anyway – last minute rush of nominations would happen this year. England were headed for the Round of 16 by the time our deadline was reached and once more, you did us proud: cheering along the best and brightest people working around you, from all four corners of the kingdom, you only went and broke the record for the most nominations ever – 383 in total!
