The APA Recognising Excellence Awards 2009

Too often police authorities are not recognised for the excellent work they undertake up and down the country.

The APA Recognising Excellence Awards celebrate the excellent work of police authorities
and ensure that good practice is shared nationally through a showcase at the APA Annual Conference.

Following last year’s successful launch, we are pleased to announce the return of the APA Recognising Excellence Awards for 2009.

Once again, the nominations will be judged by an independent panel of judges, and the winners announced at the APA conference dinner on Thursday 26 November.

Awards will be presented in each of the following three categories:

Community Engagement
Collaboration
Innovation

The closing date for nominations is Friday 9 October.

Award Categories

Category 1: Community Engagement
Work which effectively engages the local community and links local people with policing is a core function of police authority business. Innovative community engagement can see police authority work at its best; working hand in hand with local people, often those who may usually be excluded or from minority groups, with enthusiasm and imagination, meeting local concerns and needs. Nominations to this category will need to demonstrate a fresh approach to engagement, and provide evidence of outcomes.

Category 2: Collaboration
Collaboration and partnership are key mechanisms for both crime and disorder reduction and in ensuring an efficient and effective police service. Many police authorities have engaged in regional or local collaboration, and all authorities sit on various partnership boards. Entries to this category must clearly demonstrate how partnership has delivered real change that is measurable and provides improvement for local communities.

Category 3: Innovation
Entries which demonstrate innovation and lead to a significant improvement in any area of police authority business are welcomed. Nominations should demonstrate how the authority has not only broken new ground but how it has had a major impact on local communities and the way the police authority does business and has ultimately improved local policing. The project can be of any shape or size, and in any area of the police authority’s work.

Guidelines for Nominations

Entry is open to all police authorities / committees / boards that are members of the APA.

Nominations should be clear and concise, and consist of no more than 1000 words.

Nominations should be submitted by email and post. Please send email nominations to chris.cairns@lga.gov.uk and 8 copies of each nomination by post to Chris Cairns, Communications Manager, Association of Police Authorities, 15 Greycoat Place, London, SW1P 1BN.

Please enclose the Nomination Form Cover Sheet with postal nominations.

All evidence must be included within the 1000 words i.e. statistical evidence, reports, quotes, data from particular events or projects, figures relating to increased public confidence, or performance, etc.

Police authorities are able to submit one entry per category.

We suggest you focus on the content rather than presentation in your nomination. Your entry should be clearly laid out but you will not score marks for design.

Don’t forget the basics. The judges will be looking for demonstrable evidence that your project is meeting police authority core criteria for efficiency and oversight of the police service, and that it meets the judging criteria.

Judging Criteria

Community Engagement
Demonstrates an effective approach to Community Engagement.
Demonstrates an engagement of a diverse cross-section of the community.
Clearly outlines the proposed and achieved outcomes.
Demonstrates influence on strategic policing priorities.
Shows consideration of equalities and human rights issues.

Collaboration
Demonstrates an effective approach to partnership work.
Clearly delivered measurable change.
Clearly outlines the proposed and achieved outcomes.
Demonstrates how local (incl. diverse) communities have benefited.
Demonstrates links to strategic policing priorities.

Innovation
Demonstrates significant improvement & benefit to business.
Demonstrates how the nomination breaks new ground.
Demonstrates how local (incl. diverse) communities have benefited.
Clearly outlines the proposed and achieved outcomes.
Demonstrates links to strategic policing priorities.

Judging Process

There will be two stages to the selection process:

Stage One:
All nominations must be submitted to the APA by 9 October where they will then be shortlisted against the Judging Criteria. The shortlisted authorities will be contacted individually by 23 October, and the full shortlist (all categories) will be published in APA News.

Please note: Authorities that are short-listed will be invited to send a representative to the APA Conference on 26 November to showcase their work as part of a good practice fringe session and to attend the APA Conference Dinner and Awards ceremony*.

Stage Two:
The shortlisted nominations will be scrutinised by a panel of judges; the panel will include a representative from the Home Office, the NPIA, our Sponsor and an APA Honorary position. There will be one winner per category, and the panel’s decision will be final.

The winners will be announced at the APA Conference Dinner and Awards ceremony on 26 November.

*Please note: the APA will pay for one day delegate rate and a place at the conference dinner; however the APA is not able to pay travel expenses or accommodation for authority representatives.

Key Dates

15 May - APA Awards launched
9 October - Deadline for nominations
23 October - Short listed nominations announced
26 November - APA Awards presented at conference dinner

Any questions

If you have any questions about the
APA Recognising Excellence Awards 2009,
then by all means contact
chris.cairns@lga.gov.uk or
tom.tyler@lga.gov.uk in the APA Secretariat.

And finally…good luck!
APA Secretariat
September 2009