National Mediation Awards

National Mediation Awards

Managing Partner, Stuart Hanson, and previous winner of one of the National Mediation Awards (NMA), chaired the organising committee for this year’s outstanding National Mediation Awards 2020, which was held online on 23 September 2020. To watch the highlights of the event, click here. The Civil Mediation Council (CMC) and The College of Mediators (CoM) supported this high-profile all-mediation celebration. The CoM and CMC are both committed to setting and maintaining professional standards for mediators, increasing awareness of mediation and promoting it as the first port of call for dispute resolution, and extending its use more widely.

The awards are an important event in the mediation calendar as they:

• Increase the profile of mediation and mediators
• Demonstrate collaboration work in the field of mediation
• Show excellent mediation practice
• Give a platform to show the credibility of the mediation profession
• Make sure diversity and inclusion are part of mediation

The event received sponsorship from ACCA (Event Sponsor), CEDR, Our Family Wizard, Global Mediation and Oxygen Insurance. Shoosmiths were the host sponsor, but sadly due to Covid their amazing venue in Manchester was not used.

The winners were as follows:

Family Mediator of the Year – Jan Coulton

Civil Mediator of the Year – Andrew Miller

Community Mediator of the Year – Bode Adeloye

Diversity & Inclusion Award – Elizabeth Constance Solomon

Mediation Innovation Award – HMRC

Peer Mediator of the Year – Smile Mediation & Cherry Fold Community Primary School

Mediation Newcomer of the Year – Squaring Circles

SEND Mediator of the Year – Kids SEND Mediation

Mediation Trainer of the Year – Nancy Radford

Workplace Mediator of the Year – Maria Coombes

Judge’s Award – Mark Jackson Stops & Vinney Green

The judging was chaired by Sir David Foskett. The panel members were: Dr. M. Moscati, Mr. A. Whatling, Ms. L. Shimada, Mr. W. Wood QC, Ms. A. Moores, Dr. S. Šimac, Dr. S. Chelvan, Ms. M. Rose, Ms. A. Regier, Mr. T. Wallis, Dr. A. Alexander, Mr. S. Halliday.=

The volunteer members of the NMA Organising Committee were Stuart Hanson, Terry Renouf, Janeen Achtar, Ryan Crompton, Judeline Nicholas, and Katerina Karamousalidou.

However, special mention needs to go to our very own star of the show, compère, David Leckie, who is an accredited family mediator with Direct Mediation Services (DMS). Chair of the College, and DMS’s supervisor, Jan Coulton, who won Family Mediator of the Year for the second time, described his performance as “Stellar”. David is a recognisable face from his numerous television appearances – his most recent being on BBC Breakfast speaking about family mediation.