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The Michael Whippman Award 2007/8
Anchor House Residents with the Whippman family
The Michael Whippman Award is an award scheme with a difference. It focuses on the contributions of homeless people – aiming to challenge stereotypes about homelessness and to show staff, other homeless people and the general public that anything is possible.
And the winners in 2008 were ...
At Homeless Link's parliamentary reception on 5 February 2008, the winners of the Michael Whippman Award 2008 received their honours. Find out more
Background
When Homeless Link launched the Award in 2006 we hoped to find inspiring examples of how homeless people were helping to change and improve the services they used. A look at the previous finalists shows that we succeeded in this.
In 2006 the first winners of the Michael Whippman Award were the residents of Anchor House in east London, with Shaidy Characters from Derwentside among the runners up.
Nominations 2008
Nominations were invited for the Michael Whippman Award 2008 last November.
The theme of the Award was Recognising the contributions of homeless people to the communities they live in. We looked for nominations that showed how homeless people have assisted or contributed to improvements in their communities.
Nominations were invited for two categories:
- Groups
- Individuals
There is a prize of £500 for each of the winners.
Nominations will be accepted from:
- service users of homelessness projects/organisations
- staff or managers at homelessness services
- representatives of local community groups or services
Criteria
We looked for evidence of action that has made a difference to a community. For example:
- The person or group who cleared a waste ground of rubbish and provided a pleasant space for the community to enjoy
- The person or group who befriended the local school to provide extra reading help or raised awareness of homelessness
- The person or group who made links with services for older people and shopped, did small maintenance jobs or just found the time to listen
- The person or group who has built strong links with the local community resulting in improved awareness and understanding of homelessness
These are just some of the examples that individuals or groups might be nominated for and we know that there are countless others.
Shaidy Characters
The finalists will selected on the basis of:
- The extent the nominee/s developed and led the activity
- The effect of the activity on the community
- The impact of the activity on the individual or group