Celebrating the Future of CAMH: ACAMH Awards 2024 Long list

It is our pleasure to announce the long list of nominees for the 2024 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 October 2024. The Awards will be presented at a virtual ceremony in November 2024.

Congratulations to all the 2024 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.

• Mr Emmanuel Ahmadu, Cuyahoga Community College
• Ms. Afnan Al Harbi, MTMKN Co.
• Dr. Seonaid Anderson, Neuro-diverse.org
• Dr. Niki Cooper, Place2Be
• Mr Iain Hartland White, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Ms Syeda Andeela Iqbal, Mazen school
• Dr. Kenisha Jackson, CNWL – BRENT CAMHS
• Miss Breanna Myers, InStride Health | Embody Dance Conference
• Dr. Brett Novick, Osbornville Elementary School
• Dr. Georgia Pavlopoulou, Anna Freud Centre and University College London
• Dr. Jodie Rawlings and Dr. Vanessa Puetz, Anna Freud Centre and University College London
• Dr. Meinou Simmons, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
• Ms Kelly Swain, National Online Wellbeing Services (NOWS)

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.

• Professor Amit Baumel, University of Haifa
• Dr. Stephane de Brito, University of Birmingham
• Dr. Yasser Saeed Khan, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
• Dr. Richard Lamb, University of Georgia
• Dr. Felipe Siston, University of Brasília

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.

• Dr. Anganabha Baruah, Christ University
• Dr. Francesca Contino-Jackson, Supportive Space Counseling Center
• Dr. Kristie Craigen, CRAIGEN EVALUATIONS
• Dr. Nicholas Fabiano, University of Ottawa, Department of Psychiatry
• Dr. Deanna Francis, Black Dog Institute
• Dr. Thomas Gargot, University Hospital of Tours
• Miss Iona McIntyre, North Staffordshire combined healthcare trust
• Professor Virgimin Panganiban, De La Salle Medical and Health Sciences Institute
• Dr. Debbie Plant, SLaM
• Dr. Hannah Wilson, Kooth Digital 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.

• Professor Boris Birmaher, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry
• Dr. Ana Draper, Tavistock & Portman NHS FT
• Ms Lindsay Druskin, West Virginia University
• Dr. Hanni Flaherty, Yeshiva University
• Dr. Shelley Gilbert, GRIEF DOCTOR
• Dr. Kenisha Jackson, CNWL – BRENT CAMHS
• Professor Dr. Julian Koenig, University of Cologne
• Dr. Trilby Langton, NHS and Private Practice
• Professor Dennis Ougrin, Queen Mary’s University London
• PD Dr. Belinda Platt, LMU University Hospital Munich
• Dr. Marta Rapado-Castro, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, IiSGM, CIBERSAM, ISCIII, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
• Dr. Michael S. Robbins, FFT LLC
• Dr. Marco Solmi, University of Ottawa
• Professor Dr. Christina Stadler, University Psychiatric Clinics Basel
• Professor Yvonne Wren, University of Bristol/Cardiff Metropolitan 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.

• Dr. Alessio Bellato, University of Southampton, UK
• Dr. Isabell Brikell, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
• Dr. Josefien Breedvelt, King’s College London
• Professor Diego Gomez-Baya, University of Huelva
• Dr. Annabeth Groenman, University of Amsterdam & Accare
• Dr. Alex Kwong, University of Edinburgh
• Dr. Virginia Carter Leno, Birbeck
• Dr. Giorgia Michelini, Queen Mary, University of London
• Dr. Victor Pereira-Sanchez, Columbia University
• Dr. Gonzalo Salazar de Pablo, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London
• Dr. Gemma Sicouri, Black Dog Institute
• Dr. Zoe Smith, Loyola University Chicago

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.

• Mrs Lizel-Antoinette Bertie, University of New South Wales
• Dr. Giulia Crisci, Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua
• Dr. Jules Dugré, University of Birmingham
• Mr Leonard Frach, University College London
• Dr. Lucinda Grummitt, The University of Sydney
• Mr Sangwoo Richard Jung, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
• Dr. Xuemei Ma, King’s College London
• Dr. Tyler McFayden, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Dr. Wezi Mhango, University of Malawi
• Ms Scarlett Smout, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, The University of Sydney
• Dr. Alice Wickersham, CAMHS Digital Lab, King’s College London
• 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.

• Ms Lindsay Druskin, West Virginia University
• Dr. Clara Faria, University of Cambridge
• Dr. Wezi Mhango, University of Malawi
• Dr. Victor Pereira-Sanchez, Columbia University
• Dr. Asilay Seker, King’s College London and South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
• Mrs Delshad Shroff, Virginia Tech
• Mrs Jenna Sung, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital
• Dr. Eibhlin Walsh, National Suicide Research Foundation

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.

• Miss Emelia Pasternak-Albert, King’s College London GKT School of Medical Education/University of Cambridge
• Miss Denisse Zepeda, U-TTEC Lab at the University of Utah

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.

• CAMHS Young People’s Team (Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust) and PRiCE Lab, Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation NHS Trust
• Children and Young People’s Primary Care Mental Health Service, South Tyneside and Sunderland Foundation Trust
• Group Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) for Adolescents with Maladaptive Coping in Qatar’s CAMHS, Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar
• Hampshire CAMHS Eating Disorder Team (SHFT), Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust
• Next Step Cards Team, Cheshire & Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
• Paediatric Psychology Team, Royal National Ear Nose and Throat Hospital
• St Aubyn Centre, Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust
• St. Mary’s Ukrainian School Trauma Recovery Team, St Mary’s Ukrainian School
• The Lucena Clinic Hub team, Lucena Clinic CAMHS Hub

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.

• Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, India
• The Adolescent Mental Health Unit (AMHU), National Mental Hospital, Lagankhel, Lalitpur, Nepal
• The Asido Foundation, Asido Foundation, Nigeria
• Mr Yadeta Alemayehu Workneh, Mattu University

* 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