ACAMH Awards 2025 Shortlist – Recognising Advancements in CAMH Research and Practice

It is our pleasure to announce the shortlist of nominees for the 2025 ACAMH Awards.

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 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.

Congratulations to:

• Dr. Bettina Hohnen, Private practice and UCL
• Mr. Kenneth Nathan, Interventions Plus
• Dr. Kiran Nijabat, Family Wellness Practice
• 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.

Congratulations to:

• 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.

Congratulations to:

• 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.

Congratulations to:

• 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
• Professor Charles Hulme, Oxford Brookes University

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.

Congratulations to:

• Dr. Josefien Breedvelt, King’s College London
• Dr. Chloe Chessell, University of Oxford
• Mr. Charles Ganaprakasam, Ministry of Education
• Dr. Anna Gui, University of Rome Tor Vergata
• 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.

Congratulations to:

• Dr. Amelia Austin, University of Calgary
• Dr. Zarah Eve, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
• Dr. Nina Higson-Sweeney, University of Bath / University of Oxford
• Dr. Miriam Martini, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet
• Dr. Nora Trompeter, UCL

Research Trainee of the Year

This category received fewer than critical number of submissions, therefore we have not considered it this year. We hope to be able to consider this award again in 2026.

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.

Congratulations to:

• 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

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.

Congratulations to:

• Little Warriors, Be Brave Ranch, Canada
• 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
• 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.

Congratulations to:

• Mental Wellbeing and Sports (MeWeSports), Sangath, India
• Nambikai Nilayam, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Christian Medical College Vellore India
• Ndinewe Foundation, Harare, Zimbabwe
• Pakistan Association of Cognitive Therapists and DilKiBaat
• The School Initiative for Mental Health Advocacy (SIMHA), Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
• The Social Smarts Team, DevHub Center for Intervention, Philippines
• 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.

Best Paper Award

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Journal

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) journal best paper award is chosen by the editors of the CAMH journal. Papers are eligible if they have been published in the journal in 2024. The winning and shortlisted original articles are chosen based on a range of criteria including scope, relevance and study design.

Congratulations to:

• Review Article ‘Barriers and facilitators of implementation of evidence-based interventions in children and young people’s mental health care – a systematic review’ (Vol. 29, Iss. 3) Araminta Peters-Corbett, Sheryl Parke, Holly Bear, Timothy Clarke
• Original Article ‘Breaking the Silence: An Epidemiological Report on Asian American and Pacific Islander Youth Mental Health and Suicide (1999–2021)’ (Vol. 29, Iss. 2) Miles P. Reyes, Ivy Song, Apurva Bhatt
• Original Article ‘Childhood attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: socioeconomic inequalities in symptoms, impact, diagnosis and medication’ (Vol. 29, Iss. 2) Anna Pearce, Paul Henery, S. Vittal Katikireddi, Ruth Dundas, Alastair H. Leyland, Dasha Nicholls, Russell M. Viner, Lynda Fenton, Steven Hope
• Original Article ‘Space for youth mental health—coercive measure use before and after architectural innovation at a department of child and adolescent psychiatry’ (Vol. 29, Iss. 4) Klara Czernin, Anselm Bründlmayer, Josef S. Baumgartner, Paul L. Plener
• Original Article ‘The role of adolescent social inclusion in educational attainment among vulnerable youth’ (Vol. 29, Iss. 2) Heidi M. Renner, Bosco Rowland, Delyse Hutchinson, John W. Toumbourou

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry best paper award is chosen by the editors of the JCPP. Papers are eligible if they have been published in the journal in 2024. The winning and shortlisted original articles are chosen based on a range of criteria including scope, relevance and study design.

Congratulations to:

• Original Article ‘Effects of engaging fathers and bundling parenting and nutrition interventions on early child development and maternal and paternal parenting in Mara, Tanzania: a factorial cluster-randomized controlled trial”, (Vol. 65, Iss. 5) Joshua Jeong, Marilyn N. Ahun, Nilupa S. Gunaratna, Ramya Ambikapathi, Frank Mapendo, Lauren Galvin, Mary Pat Kieffer, Mary Mwanyika-Sando, Dominic Mosha, Savannah Froese O’Malley, Cristiana K. Verissimo, George PrayGod, Aisha K. Yousafzai
• Original Article ‘Social connectedness and adolescent suicide risk’, (Vol. 65, Iss. 6), Alejandra Arango, David Brent, Jacqueline Grupp-Phelan, Bradley J. Barney, Anthony Spirito, Megan M. Mroczkowski, Rohit Shenoi, Melinda Mahabee-Gittens, T. Charles Casper, Cheryl King, in collaboration with the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN)
• Original Article ‘Socioeconomic disadvantage and high-effort coping in childhood: evidence of skin-deep resilience’, (Vol. 65, Iss. 3) Katherine B. Ehrlich, Sarah M. Lyle, Kelsey L. Corallo, Julie M. Brisson, Elizabeth R. Wiggins, Tianyi Yu, Edith Chen, Gregory E. Miller, Gene H. Brody
• Original Article ‘Socioeconomic status and risk for child psychopathology: exploring gene–environment interaction in the presence of gene–environment correlation using extended families in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Birth Cohort Study’ (Vol. 65, Iss. 2) Isabella Badini, Yasmin Ahmadzadeh, Daniel L. Wechsler, Torkild H. Lyngstad, Christopher Rayner, Espen M. Eilertsen, Helena M.S. Zavos, Eivind Ystrom, Tom A. McAdams
• Original Article ‘Understanding the relationship between social camouflaging in autism and safety behaviours in social anxiety in autistic and non-autistic adolescents’, (Vol. 65, Iss. 3) Jiedi Lei, Eleanor Leigh, Tony Charman, Ailsa Russell, Matthew J. Hollocks

JCPP Advances

The JCPP Advances best paper award is chosen by the editors of the JCPP Advances. Papers are eligible if they have been published in the journal in 2024. The winning and shortlisted original articles are chosen based on a range of criteria including scope, relevance and study design.

Congratulations to:

• Original Article ‘A transdiagnostic approach to neurodiversity in a representative population sample: The N+ 4 model’ (Vol. 4 Iss. 2) Ian A. Apperly, Robert Lee, Sanne W. van der Kleij, Rory T. Devine
• Original Article ‘Interplay of early negative life events, development of orbitofrontal cortical thickness and depression in young adulthood’ (Vol. 4 Iss. 1) Lea L. Backhausen, Jonas Granzow, Juliane H. Fröhner, Eric Artiges, Marie-Laure Paillère-Martinot, Hervé Lemaître, Fabio Sticca, Tobias Banaschewski, Sylvane Desrivières, Antoine Grigis, Andreas Heinz, Rüdiger Brühl, Dimitri Papadopoulos-Orfanos, Luise Poustka, Sarah Hohmann, Lauren Robinson, Henrik Walter, Jeanne Winterer, Gunter Schumann, Jean-Luc Martinot, Michael N. Smolka, Nora C. Vetter, the IMAGEN Consortium
• Original Article ‘Moderators and predictors of treatment outcome following adjunctive internet-delivered emotion regulation therapy relative to treatment as usual alone for adolescents with nonsuicidal self-injury disorder: Randomized controlled trial’ (Vol. 4 Iss. 3) Olivia Ojala, Hugo Hesser, Kim L. Gratz, Matthew T. Tull, Erik Hedman-Lagerlöf, Hanna Sahlin, Brjánn Ljótsson, Clara Hellner, Johan Bjureberg
• Original Article ‘Risk rates and profiles at intake in child and adolescent mental health services: A cohort and latent class analyses of 21,688 young people in South London’ (Vol. 4 Iss. 3) Barry Coughlan, Matt Woolgar, Rick Hood, Dustin Hutchinson, Ella Denford, Amy Hillier, Keith Clements, Teresa Geraghty, Ava Berry, Paul Bywaters, Andy Bilson, Jack Smith, Taliah Drayak, David Graham, Francesca Crozier-Roche, Robbie Duschinsky
• Original Article ‘Testing the modifiability of episodic future thinking and episodic memory among suicidal and nonsuicidal adolescents’ (Vol. 4 Iss. 3) Pauline Goger, Rachel J. Nam, Nathan Lowry, Kerri-Anne Bell, Neha Parvez, Olivia H. Pollak, Donald J. Robinaugh, Daniel L. Schacter, Christine B. Cha