The 2015 SPA Awards ceremony was held on 6 July at the Titanic Suite in Belfast. Awards were presented by SPA President, Sue Duncan. This year we had five award winners. Winner of the award for ‘Best Post Graduate Paper’ (presented at last year’s SPA conference) was Rita Griffiths of the University of Bath, for her paper entitled ‘No love on the dole: Do UK means tested welfare benefits discourage two parent families?’ 
The award for ‘Best Non-Academic Contribution to Social Policy’ was presented to the Rev. Paul Nicolson who has dedicated much of his life to understanding and campaigning against the causes of poverty and to being an advocate for those in financial trouble.
This year we are happy to announce three winners of the Special Recognition Award. The award is made to those who have made a consistent, sustained and long standing contribution to the field of social policy, through research, or teaching and learning. They have often had a significant impact on the political process or made a substantial contribution to the development and promotion of the discipline of social policy. The award winners are:
- Professor Lesley Doyal, Emeritus Professor at the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol. Lesley has specialised in health policy, gender and development, and research methods, and was instrumental in setting up one of the first Women’s Studies Units in the UK.
- Professor Rudolf Klein, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the University of Bath. Rudolf has made a major contribution to the study of social policy, both in the UK and internationally, and has been a pioneer in the fields of regulation, performance measurement, accountability and targets.
- Professor Robert Pinker, Emeritus Professor of Social Administration at the London School of Economics. Robert’s work has been pivotal in highlighting theoretical issues in the understanding of social policy and developing intellectual thought within the study of social policy, through research and teaching and through serving on numerous boards and committees.
Congratulations to all our winners. And thank you to all who took the time and trouble to nominate people for the awards. The call for nominations for the 2016 SPA awards will be made in January 2016. See the SPA website, and SPA members’ mailing list for details at the time.’
Photos courtesy of ElaineHillPhotography