2023 Accolades

The Accolades are awards that recognise, celebrate and share notable work in social care and childcare, play and early years in Wales.

The awards recognise the work of groups, teams and organisations, as well as workers from across the public, private, voluntary and co-operative sectors in Wales.

Entries and nominations for the 2023 Accolades have now closed and we're no longer accepting entries or nominations.

The 2023 Accolades have five categories:

• three categories for teams, groups and organisations
• two categories for workers.

Categories for teams, groups and organisations

In each category, our judges will be looking for evidence of work that’s new and makes a real positive difference to the lives of the people they support.

Building bright futures for children and families

This category is for organisations, settings or projects working with children, young people, families and their carers to help them achieve what matters to them.

Entries could come from residential social care settings, community-based or statutory services; for example those supporting young people who’ve recently left care, residential homes, fostering or adoption services, or youth work. Or it could be an early years or childcare setting that gives an excellent start for the children it supports.

Looking after and improving workforce well-being

The pandemic’s challenges and the toll it took on those working in the care sector has shown how important it is to help workers stay well, physically and mentally.

In this category, we’re looking for excellent examples of:

• how employers have supported staff since the pandemic
• the longer-term steps employers are taking to look after and improve their workers’ well-being.

These steps could include introducing new ways to do things that show how staff are valued and supported, such as changing the way they work and offering specialist help when they need it. This category is open to employers or teams providing social care, early years or childcare in Wales.

Supporting unpaid carers

In this category, we’re looking for teams or groups of workers who support unpaid carers, which could involve:

• making sure they’re not disadvantaged or discriminated against because of their caring role
• helping carers and their families find out what really matters to them and how they can achieve it
• arranging short breaks
• training to help carers learn new skills
• help with technology
• giving information and advice, and access to resources.

This support could come from social workers, social care workers or other practitioners.

Categories for individual care workers

In each category, our judges will be looking for exceptional care workers who go above and beyond the usual day-to-day requirements of their role and who help people achieve what really matters to them.

Effective leadership award

We’re looking for people to nominate outstanding leaders in social care and early years and childcare who’ve:

• shown compassion in the way they manage staff or work with colleagues
• helped organisations or teams achieve excellent outcomes for children and people who get care and support.

The leaders don’t have to be in senior positions, and could be individuals or teams. They can be at any level in the public, private or voluntary sectors.

The important thing is that they’ve shown outstanding leadership.

WeCare Wales award

We’re looking for people to nominate outstanding workers involved in social care or early years and childcare, who’ve made a hugely positive difference to people’s lives.

The workers can be from any role in the public, private or voluntary sectors, including volunteers. They can also be apprentices or people studying for qualifications while they work.

The 2023 Accolades awards ceremony will be held in April 2023. We’ll update this page with more information about it nearer the time.

If you have a question or can’t find what you’re looking for, get in touch with us.