Dr Wanda Wyporska, executive director of The Equality Trust, was named as the overall winner at the Social CEOs awards yesterday.
This year 16 charity leaders made the Social CEOs list of people who use social media to engage and connect in the most effective way possible.
Wyporska said she was “thrilled, honoured and humbled” to have received the award”, in what has a “tough year” where support via social media has been vital.
There were 131 nominees who were judged by a panel of digital leaders chaired by Simon Blake, CEO of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England. The other judges were: Polly Neate, CEO of Shelter, Tessy Ojo, CEO of The Diana Award, Lucy Caldicott, founder at Change Out, Ruth Ibegbuna, founder of RECLAIM Project and The Roots Programme and Kim Shutler, CEO at The Cellar Trust.
At the virtual awards ceremony yesterday, Shutler said, the winners were all “outstanding” and that the judging process was “really tough because of the [high] quality of nominations”.
Individual awards
There were also six individual awards recognising digital leadership from across the sector:
- Minnie Rahman of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (Best Rising Star)
- Huda Jawad of End Violence Against Women (Best Trustee)
- Wayne Murray, charity strategy consultant (Best Leader) with Martha Awojobi (diversity and fundraising consultant) taking Highly Commended.
- Kiran Kaur of Girl Dreamer (Best Digital CEO)
- Claire Warner, fundraising and wellbeing consultant (Best Digital Leader)
- Ellie Talebian of MYTIME Young Carers (Best Digital Champion)
As in 2019, the judges did not select a winner for the Digital Trustee award as no-one met the criteria.
‘Be bold’
The awards, founded by digital experts Zoe Amar and Matt Collins, are now in their eighth year.
However, this year 10 of the top 16 are new entrants, indicating a new generation of leaders coming to the fore.
Amar said: “The class of 2020 show how leaders need to be bold and have a clear sense of purpose with digital as the social sector plots a route out of the crisis.”
Collins added: “As more organisations have majored on digital it’s become increasingly hard to carve out a niche but all of our winners show that any leader can use digital effectively if they invest in growing their confidence and skills. Leaders who do this will help their organisations create a sustainable future and stay connected to the people they support.”
Full list of winners is available on the Social CEOs website.
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