Nominations open for SJA ‘Sport for Change’ Award 2024

The prestigious award, which is being sponsored by Altair Ltd, seeks to highlight the seeks to highlight the amazing work of charities and grassroots organisations using sport and/or physical activity to generate positive ‘ESG’ outcomes across the UK. These include:

• Environmental: How sport and/or physical activity are supporting climate action in our cities and communities, for example through encouraging active travel; reducing carbon-intensive behaviours and lifestyles; recycling and reduction of single-use plastics;

• Social: How targeted sport-based interventions are addressing key social and economic issues such as crime and anti-social behaviour; education and employment; physical and mental health and wellbeing, and community cohesion.

• Governance: Projects and programmes which are helping to tackle deeply-rooted structural inequalities across sport and society, such as racism and discrimination, gender inequity and homophobia.

The award was created in partnership with ConnectSport CIC in 2018. ConnectSport is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company which partners with UK Universities to raise awareness and increase investment for local charities and sport for development organisations, which are collectively contributing to globally-recognised Sustainable Development Goals and need more support.

Last year’s winners were the charity Tackle, which harnesses the power of football to promote good sexual health had HIV / AIDS awareness throughout Africa.

SJA chairman Ashley Broadley, said: “It’s really important that these awards continue to recognise the brilliant work that is being done by organisations and individuals using sport to create a positive impact.”

Organisations, both inside and outside of sport, are now being invited to submit their applications for the award, which will be judged by a panel of experts on the following criteria:

    Impact and reach

    Scale and difficulty of the issue being tackled

    Longevity and sustainability of the project

    Resourcefulness and dedication of staff, coaches and volunteers

    Innovation and/or collaboration

    Monitoring and evaluation, including clarity and transparency around impact reporting

Applicants must provide an overview of no more than 300 words describing their project or ongoing work, plus a 200-word case study demonstrating the impact of the programme, for example on a specific individual or community.

A panel of national journalists and leading sport executives will form the judging panel for the Award.

To enter, click here and complete the online form no later than 5pm on Wednesday 6th November.

Make sure you include the name of the project and/or organisation and provide contact details, including name of contact, telephone, email, website and social media handles.

Shortlisted entries for the Sport for Change Award will be announced on the SJA website on Wednesday 20th November, alongside the winners of the other categories of the SJA British Sports Awards who will be unveiled live on Sky Sports.

The shortlist will then be invited to a special Parliamentary reception on Monday 9th December, when the overall winner will be announced. The reception will be attended by other award winners including athletes and sports teams.

SJA Sport for Change Award – Past Winners

     2018: The Wave Project

     2019: Salaam Peace

     2020: Marcus Rashford, Lou Macari, Ebony Rainford-Brent and Dons Action Group

     2021: The London Marathon

     2022: Panathlon Challenge

     2023: Tackle

The entry deadline for the 2024 Sport for Change Award is Wednesday 6th November (5pm GMT). If you have any questions or queries, please contact [email protected]

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT AN ENTRY FOR THE SJA ‘SPORT FOR CHANGE’ AWARD 2024.