It is our pleasure to announce the long list of nominees for the 2025 ACAMH Awards.
Congratulations to all nominees for making it on the longlist. To be nominated for an ACAMH Award is a prestigious recognition of those who are at the forefront of the advancement of child and adolescent mental health research and practice.
The standard of this year’s nominations was superb and will be narrowed down to a shortlist by a panel of experts in the field of child and adolescent mental health. The shortlist will be announced in the coming months. The Awards will be presented at a virtual ceremony in October 2025.
Congratulations to all the 2025 nominees.
Educator Award
David Cottrell ‘Education of CAMH Professionals’
Nomination criteria: Someone who has had a significant impact upon the education or training of child and adolescent mental health professionals. This is open to all disciplines, but education or training must relate to children’s mental health.
- Mrs. Susie Grady, Chartered Society of Physiotherapists in Mental Healthcare
Committee - Dr. Bettina Hohnen, Private practice and UCL
- Tomas Miño Landon, Hablemos de TOC
- Mrs. Lauren Macfarlane And Mrs. Kirsten Malcolm, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
- Professor Roopesh Nagaraj, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences
- Mr. Kenneth Nathan, Interventions Plus
- Dr. Kiran Nijabat, Family Wellness Practice
- Dr. Brett J. Novick, Rutgers University/University of Phoenix
- Mrs. Bosede Oyelakin, Blaze Health Foundation
- Dr. Victor Pereira-Sanchez, Columbia University
- Ms. Angela Taylor, Supporting Community Together
Digital Innovation Awards
Research on Digital Impact
Nomination criteria: A researcher who has published the best paper on an information/data/IT/digital topic relating to child and adolescent mental health, which can include online assessment innovations.
- Bach Le, High Schooler Tells High Schoolers
- The Co-CAT Study Team, University of Oxford
- Professor Harriet Over, University of York
- Dr. Gabriela Pavarini, University of Oxford
- Professor Kapil Sayal, Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham
Digital Intervention
Nomination criteria: A clinician who has put evidence base into practice within the information/data/IT/digital fields of child and adolescent mental health. This could be the use of information or technologies in the delivery of care or service design etc.
- Mr. John Campbell-O’Brien, ANP ADHD Pathway, HSE CAMHS, Integrated Health Areas of Dublin North County and Dublin North City and West
- Dr. Eleanor Leigh, University of Oxford
- Mrs. Helen McGlinchey, Northpoint
- Professor John Weisz, Harvard Lab for Youth Mental Health
Research Into Practice
Eric Taylor ‘Translational Research Into Practice’
Nomination criteria: An individual with a sustained contribution to translating research into practice over a number of years, whose work involves both research, and either clinical or educational involvement in practice. And/or a researcher or clinician who has published translational science (evidence base into practice) with evidence of impact on clinical service provision. This could involve the establishment of new interventions, or improvement of existing ones, with evidence of impact on clinical service provision.
- Dr. Anna Basu, Newcastle University and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Professor Cathy Creswell, University of Oxford
- Professor David Daley, Nottingham Trent University
- Dr. Hanni Flaherty, Yeshiva University & Hanni Flaherty, LCSW PC
- Dr. Nicky Greaves, Hillingdon Manor School
- Professor Charles Hulme, Oxford Brookes University
- RN, PMHCNS, BC Michael Laferny, Healthdrive
- Prof. Dr. Andrea Pousada-Fitzpatrick, Omnia Mental Health Clinic
- Professor Sinead Rhodes, University of Edinburgh
Rising Star Award
Kathy Sylva ‘Rising Star’ Award
Nomination criteria: Please note that this award cannot be self nominated. Open to any person who has made a significant scientific contribution to child and adolescent mental health literature, within 10 years of their first peer reviewed journal publication.
- Dr. Anka Berhard, Technical University Dresden
- Dr. Josefien Breedvelt, King’s College London
- Dr. Chloe Chessell, University of Oxford
- Mr. Charles Ganaprakasam, Ministry of Education
- Prof. Dr. Diego Gomez-Baya, University of Huelva (Spain)
- Dr. Anna Gui, University of Rome Tor Vergata
- Dr. Thornhildur Hallsdorsdottir, Reykjavik University
- Dr. Nagina Khan, University of Kent
- Dr. Alex Kwong, University of Edinburgh
- Dr. Gonzalo Salazar De Pablo, King’s College London
- Dr. Xinxin Zhu, University of Edinburgh
Trainee Awards
Postgraduate Research Trainee of the Year
Nomination criteria: Trainee or student who is less than two years post PhD who has shown initiative or made a significant contribution to child and adolescent mental health.
- Dr. Amelia Austin, University of Calgary
- Dr. Zarah Eve, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Dr. Nina Higson-Sweeney, University of Bath / University of Oxford
- Ms. Sylvia Lin, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; Deakin University
- Dr. Miriam Martini, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet
- Ms. Thida Soun, Jayavaraman VII Hospital
- Dr. Nora Trompeter, UCL
- Ms Arushee Wahi, Department of Clinical Psychology, NIMHANS
- Dr. Afreen Waseem, GITAM University
- Dr. Valerio Zaccaria, Sapienza University of Rome
Research Trainee of the Year
Nomination criteria: Open to any individual undertaking postgraduate training as a practitioner working with children in relation to mental health from any background (e.g. clinical psychology, educational psychology, child and adolescent psychiatry). This could include candidates currently in a clinical training working towards a professional qualification, or teaching, for example, an individual undertaking an MEd who is able to demonstrate a clear commitment to evidence-based clinical practice.
- Dr. Victor Pereira-Sanchez, Columbia University
- Katherine Venturo-Conerly, Harvard University
Clinical Trainee of the Year
Nomination criteria: Open to an individual undertaking their first qualification as a practitioner working with children in relation to mental health from any background (e.g. nursing, social work, occupational therapy, physio) and working towards a clinical qualification and who demonstrates a clear commitment to evidence based clinical practice.
- Mr. Harry Barker, University of Cambridge
- Ms. Lauren Hitchcock, ChARM Team, University of Cambridge
- Mr. Sangwoo Richard Jung, King’s College London
- Ms. Holly Platt, ChARM Team, University of Cambridge
- Ms. Mereena Varghese, RaK’s Pallikkoodam
Team Awards
Lionel Hersov Memorial Award
Nomination criteria: A practice team that has demonstrated the use of evidence base (research, audit or service evaluation) into clinical practice. Or a team that has evaluated the outcome or measures either the clinical impact or demonstrated quality improvement (can be efficiencies of time, money or reduced ‘waste’). The nominations will be accepted from researchers, investigators, clinicians, and educationalists.
- Plymouth Multi-Agency Ecotherapy Collective, Plymouth City Council
- RE-STAR Academic Researchers (Ars) and its Youth Researcher Panel (Y-RP), Kings, UCL, Anna Freud and Central
- Little Warriors, Be Brave Ranch, Canada
- Young People’s Mental Health Research Centre, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
- The Educational Psychology Service, States of Guernsey
Innovative Research, Training or Practice in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs)
Nomination criteria: Team based in a country classified by the World Bank as LMICs* in the preceding year, and whose work involve research, clinical or educational activities in that country. The work shows innovation in research, training, or practice/service delivery in child and adolescent mental health.
- Pakistan Association of Cognitive Therapists and DilKiBaat
- The Social Smarts Team, DevHub Center for Intervention, Philippines
- Nambikai Nilayam, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Christian Medical College Vellore India
- Ndinewe Foundation, Harare, Zimbabwe
- Mental Wellbeing and Sports (MeWeSports), Sangath, India
- The School Initiative for Mental Health Advocacy (SIMHA), Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
- RCPsych & GCPS CAP Module Team, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Glasgow and Ghana
* Eligible countries; Afghanistan, Angola, Algeria, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Micronesia, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, West Bank and Gaza, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Other awards to be announced at the virtual ceremony
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Journal Best Paper
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Journal Best Paper
- JCPP Advances Best Paper