Art Therapists Awards announced for 2024
We are delighted to announce the art therapists who have been awarded our new annual Art Therapists Awards, which celebrate the outstanding contributions made by art therapists to the profession across the UK.
Sponsored by the National Art Pass, our two new awards were announced at our annual conference in November.
Dr Jed Jerwood has been awarded the Innovation Award for his ground-breaking work at The Mary Stevens Hospice. His co-developed approach to advance care planning, ‘No Barriers Here’, uses arts-based methods to engage underserved communities in end-of-life care. The approach, which blends creativity with compassionate care, has since been adopted by national organisations such as Marie Curie and The Terrence Higgins Trust.
It is an honour to be awarded the prize for Innovation. No Barriers Here is founded on principles of coproduction and I am accepting this award on behalf of all the members of our coproduction groups, our community partners, my colleagues at Mary Stevens Hospice and all our participants – without them, No Barriers Here would not exist. I am just one part of a wider community!
Jed Jerwood, art therapist
The Inclusive and Anti-Oppressive Practice Award has been awarded to Corrina Eastwood, a leading advocate for inclusivity and social justice within art therapy. Through teaching, writing, and activism, Corrina has advocated for a radical shift in the profession, encouraging art therapists to reflect on their own practice and to better serve underrepresented communities.
This award recognises Corrina’s breadth of contribution through her activism, her commitment to this work, her willingness to speak out, and her understanding of the need to work strategically as a whole profession – dismantling the structural racism that we have inherited, questioning ourselves, and our practice.
Thank you to all the nominees
Awards were given after a thorough review by a panel of esteemed judges, including our Council members, Proffessor Carolyn McDonald, chief allied health professions officer for Scotland, and Daniel Regan, our equality, diversity, and inclusion advisor. The panel praised the finalists for their commitment, innovation, and creativity.
Our honorary president, Diane Waller, expressed her gratitude to the all nominees, saying:
It was an honour to be part of the panel selecting this year’s nominees, whose diligent and inspiring work demonstrates the breadth, diversity of work and projects being undertaken by art therapists across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. I also want to personally thank all of the nominees for their work – for their innovation and creativity, for their new ideas and commitment – all of which helps to develop our profession for the benefit of our service users and communities.
Diane Waller, honorary president of the British Association of Art Therapists
You can read the fantastic work that the all of the nominees have been doing in our article in InSight.
Next year’s awards
Do consider nominating outstanding colleagues and teams for next year’s awards. We hope to see and shine a light on even more of the inspiring work being carried out across the art therapy community.
Keep an eye on our website and social media channels for more information about the awards and how to nominate an art therapist next year.