The chief executives of Action on Hearing Loss, Mencap and NSPCC were among the 30 that have been included on the third annual #socialceos awards.

The list of charity chief executives who use social media the most effectively was announced last night along with a new guide to using social media.

The awards are organised by digital consultants Zoe Amar and Matt Collins and decided by a judging panel of digital experts, chaired by Simon Blake, chief executive of NUS.

The other judges were Julie Bentley, chief executive of Girlguiding UK; Lucy Caldicott, interim chief executive of Diversity Role Models; Meg Garlinghouse, head of LinkedIn4Good; Mandy Johnson, UK director of partnerships at Change.org; Joel Lunenfeld, VP of Global Brand Strategy at Twitter and Polly Neate, chief executive of Women’s Aid.  

There were 158 nominations for the awards this year, a 50 per cent increase on 2014.

Caldicott (pictured) said last night those who had made this year’s list had “brought their whole self to their social feeds” and were not just using it to talk about work.

Amar said that leaders had evolved from using social media in an “ambassadorial way” when they started the awards in 2013 to it becoming a “fundamental tool”.

Collins added that: “If you’re a chief executive and you’re not on Twitter you risk being left behind and not showing the transparency that we want to see in the charity sector.”

This year there were three individual awards. Karl Wilding, director of public policy and NCVO won the best senior leader award; Leon Ward, trustee of Plan International UK and Brook, won the trustee award and Angela Style of Endometriosis UK won the rising star award.

Amar and Collins have produced a guide in association with JustGiving, How to survive and thrive as a social CEO, which includes tips and case studies from some of this year’s winners and digital experts.

The top 30 in alphabetical order, or click here for the Twitter list:

1. Deborah Alsina, Bowel Cancer UK, @DeborahAlsina
2. Owen Barder, Centre for Global Development in Europe, @owenbarder
3. Craig Bennett, Friends of the Earth, @CraigBennett3
4. Caron Bradshaw, CFG, @caronlb
5. Paul Breckell, Action on Hearing Loss, @pbreckell
6. Stephen Cornish, MSF, @Stephen_Cornish
7. Frances Crook, Howard League for Penal Reform, @FrancesCrook
8. Mark Flanagan, Beating Bowel Cancer, @MarkFlannCEO
9. Steve Ford, Parkinson’s UK, @SteveGFord
10. Nicky Goulder, Create, @NickyGoulder
11. Liam Hackett, Ditch the Label, @DiageoLiam
12. Stephen Hale, Refugee Action, @SHaleGeneva
13. Edel Harris, Cornerstone, @Edelharris
14. Jon Hibbs, the Hibbs Lupus Trust, @hibbsy
15. Helena Holt, Devon Air Ambulance, @hgholt
16. Rhidian Hughes, VODG, @rhidianhughes
17. Andrew Johnston, the Boys’ Brigade, @boysbrigadeceo
18. Dalton Leong, the Children’s Trust, @DaltonLeong
19. Louise Macdonald, Young Scot, @Louisemac
20. John May, the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, @johnccmay
21. Robert Meadowcroft, Muscular Dystrophy UK, @MDUK_Robert
22. Jo Smith, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, @JoSmithDWT
23. Matt Stevenson-Dodd, Street League, @Matt_SD
24. Ruth Sutherland, Samaritans, @SamaritansRuth
25. Jessica Taplin, Get Connected, @JessicaTaplin
26. Jeremy Taylor, National Voices, @JeremyTaylorNV
27. Jan Tregelles, Mencap, @JanTregelles
28. Peter Wanless, NSPCC, @PeterWanless
29. Andy Winter, Brighton Housing Trust, @AndyWinterBHT
30. Jo Youle, Missing People, @JoeyYoule