Nominations open for the 2022 Celebrating Neurodiversity Awards

The Categories

Best Assistive Technology (sponsored by Microlink): This category recognises technology that has been designed to improve accessibility, inclusion, and quality of life for neurominorities. This could be an app, piece of software or a physical tool.

Inclusion Project of the Year (sponsored by Osborne Clarke): This category seeks to recognise the clubs, charities and community projects that have done outstanding work to raise awareness of neurodiversity and promote neuro-inclusion. Nominees will demonstrate meaningful and practical support which has had a positive impact on members of the ND community.

Most Inclusive Education Provider (sponsored by Phoenix Software): This award is for an educational facility, teacher or facilitator that goes the extra mile to create an inclusive environment for neurominorities. Whether it is a mainstream school, forest school, home-schooling network, nursery, or college teacher, all that matters is that they are committed to neuro-inclusion.

NEW CATEGORY! Most Inclusive Employer (sponsored by Babcock International): New for 2022, this category celebrates businesses that recognise the benefits of neurodiversity and go above and beyond to promote inclusion. Through proactive support, accessible systems and processes, these employers support their employees to reach their potential.

Neurodiversity Research of the Year (sponsored by Birkbeck University Research Centre): This category recognises those that are conducting valuable research, aiming to reduce the knowledge gap relating to neurodiversity inclusion. Studies will identify ways in which to help neurominorities be at their best and inform best practice for neuro-inclusion.

Neurominority Achiever of the Year (sponsored by Mace Group): This award celebrates neurominorities who have achieved something they did not think was possible. They are someone who has overcome major challenges to succeed either personally, professionally or in their studies.

Stereotype Buster (sponsored by Hays Technology): This award celebrates those that do things their own way and prove that narrow stereotypes cannot adequately describe the human experience. The winner will be someone who motivates others, simply by being their authentic self, to challenge mainstream perceptions of gender, class, race, sexuality, disability, or any societal norm.

NEW! Community Choice Award (sponsored by Blooming Genius): This award seeks to recognise an individual or group who dedicates their time to serving their community and supporting their neurokin. A shortlist for this category will be selected from nominees across the other categories and the winner voted for online by the ND community. 

How to nominate

Nominations for the Celebrating Neurodiversity Awards opened on Friday 15th October 2021 and will remain open until Monday 17th January 2022. 

You can nominate individuals, organisations or projects by completing the online nomination form.

Alternatively, you may wish to record a short video detailing your nomination. The video should be no longer than 2 minutes and must address the reason for your nomination. We recommend that you check the category criteria included in the online nomination form before submitting your video, to ensure that you have provided sufficient information for the judges. Videos should be sent to awards@geniuswithin.org.

Please note, you are not able to nominate for the Community Choice Award at this stage. A shortlist for this award will be released in January 2022, when you will be able to vote for your winner. 

To find out more about the awards, contact our team on awards@geniuswithin.org or call +44 (0)1273 890 502.

With thanks to our awards sponsors