The CJA Awards shine a spotlight on individuals and organisations who have contributed to a fairer and more effective criminal justice. The Media Awards celebrate journalists, filmmakers and digital media champions who have challenged perceptions and improved public understanding in a sensitive and constructive way.
We celebrated the winners of the CJA Awards and Media Awards 2020 in an online ceremony, presented by the founder of the St Giles Trust SOS Project Junior Smart and broadcast live from a studio in London.
This year, we also launched two new awards. We launched the Outstanding Local or Regional Organisation Award in recognition of the great work that smaller organisations do across the country. We also launched an Outstanding Documentary category in our Media Awards after being impressed by some incredibly powerful and impactful documentaries throughout the year.
Watch the ceremony below, and read on to find out more about the CJA Awards 2020.
Shortlist and winners
Outstanding Individual
- Brendan Ross, Peer Circles Manager, St Giles Trust – winner
- Michaela Booth, National Patient Engagement Lead for Health in Justice, Practice Plus Group – runner-up
- Gavin McKenna, Founder, Reach Every Generation – runner-up
- Kyle Mullings, Support Worker, Community Led Initiatives
- Ife Thompson, Founder, Black Protest Legal Support
Outstanding Local / Regional Organisation
- Children Heard and Seen – winner
- Changing the Game – runner-up
- The Footprints Project
- Odd Arts
- Offploy
Outstanding National Organisation
- Unlock – winner
- Birth Companions – runner-up
- The Parole Board
- Muslim Women’s Network UK
- Black Protest Legal Support
Outstanding Journalism
- Symeon Brown, Channel 4 – winner
- Ria Chatterjee, ITV News – runner-up
- Danny Shaw, formerly at the BBC
- The Secret Barrister series, produced by Sara Moralioglu for Channel 4
- Jamie Grierson, The Guardian
Outstanding Digital Media Champion
- Prison Bag – winner
- Prison Radio Association – runner-up
- Blessing at the Bar
- More Than My Past – The Forward Trust
- Prison Health Animation – UCL’s Collaborative Centre for Inclusion Health and Tjoff Koong Studios
Outstanding Documentary (new category)
- The Punch – Just Radio and BBC Radio 4 – winner
- The Choir, Aylesbury Prison – Twenty Twenty Productions and BBC Two – runner-up
- Unchained – Prison Radio Association and BBC Radio 4 – runner-up
- Crime: Are we tough enough? – BBC
- How to Stay Out of Jail – Spring Films and Channel 4
Lifetime Achievement Award
The winner of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award was Leroy Logan, for his contribution to diversity within policing.
You can read more about the shortlisted candidates in the CJA Awards 2020 brochure.
Judges
The judges of the CJA Awards 2020 were:
- Alexandra Wilson. A barrister and the author of ‘In Black and White: A Young Barrister’s Story of Race and Class in a Broken Justice System.’
- Dr Jamie Bennett. Former prison governor and Deputy Director for Operational Security at HMPPS. He is also Editor of the Prison Service Journal.
- Whitney Clark. A youth consultant and Advisory Board Member for Peer Power, which was the Runner-Up of the Outstanding Organisation Award in 2019.
- Pastor Lorraine Jones. CEO and Founder of Dwaynamics, which Lorraine set up in memory of her son.
The judges of the Media Awards 2020 were:
- Anushka Asthana. Guardian Editor-at-large and host of the Today in Focus podcast.
- Emmanuel Onapa. Freelance journalist, Campaigns Manager at Hackney Account and youth leader at Hackney CVS.
- Philippa Budgen. Former BBC journalist, media consultant, Scholarship Manager at the Longford Trust and Trustee at Transform Justice.
- Chris Frost.Former newspaper editor and Chair of the National Union of Journalists’ Ethics Council.