CELEBRATING PLAYWORK EXCELLENCE

The recipients of the Annual Playwork Awards have been revealed. The six category winners were revealed during the National Playwork Conference – the UK’s largest national event for the playwork sector

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE PLAYWORK

The Annual Playwork Awards set out to celebrate all that is good about the UK Playwork sector. They were set up 23 years ago by Meynell Walter, founder of Meynell Games, who wanted to have a mechanism that would recognise and praise excellence in the playwork sector “The awards are all about identifying and rewarding the people and organisations who have made a noticeable contribution and difference to the lives of those they work with,” Meynell says. “They are designed to recognise the hard work that the UK playworkers and organisations have put in over the past year in order to get to the point where they are today.

“Alongside these awards comes a tremendous sense of pride. Many people forget about the playworkers that strive day in, day out, in order to offer a broad range of different play opportunities with the aim of enhancing the play opportunities of the children they work with. Even when times are tough and funds are limited, some playworker’s creativity never ceases to amaze those they work with.”

The award winners were revealed during this year’s National Playwork Conference. The event is the largest national gathering of playwork people from across the depth and breadth of the sector.

The Conference is a chance for those working in the play industry to come together and share insights and thinking, as well as learn from each other and develop their knowledge.

Strengthening sector

Meynell says that the Awards and the Conference play an important part in bringing the UK’s playwork community together at a time when there is fresh momentum to recognise play as a crucial part of society.

“Play is an important part of children’s lives and that play should be as free from corruption by adults as possible,” Meynell says.

“Play is essential; it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social and emotional wellbeing of children and young people as well as serving a crucial evolutionary purpose. There are huge benefits and opportunities for children to engage and explore when playing; however opportunities for play have been remarkably reduced for some children.

“This can be a result of things such as hurried lifestyles and changes in family structure. This lack of play opportunities is something that we as playworkers are trying to prevent and these awards will help to raise the profile of our work and gives us the chance to praise those that have been nominated for an award.”

The Awards are supported with sponsorship from the four home nations play organisations: Play Scotland, Play Wales, Play England and Playboard NI, as well as the Out of School Alliance. Nominations for the 2026 Awards will open during the summer of 2025.

The Professional Development Award 2025 Clybiau Plant Cymru Kids’ Clubs

Clybiau Plant Cymru’s vision is to ensure out-of-school childcare clubs thrive.

“Everything we do is based on our extensive knowledge within the Out of School Childcare sector. We know that each club is different, and we know better than anyone that there is no ‘one size-fits-all’. We admire the variety of our clubs – and we use our expertise and industry knowledge to educate and support our Club Community.”

The Frontline Playwork Award 2025 Seren in the Community

Seren in the Community is a Cardiff-based charity supporting children and young people, and the wider community in Splott, Tremorfa, Adamstown and Roath.

“We are so grateful to be recognised publicly in this way and it makes standing out in the rain and going home filthy totally worth it! A massive thanks to everyone who has stuck with us through the weather, covid, staff sickness and fundraising events!”

The Altogether Different Award 2025 Play 2 Nurture - Play Gloucestershire

Play Gloucestershire’s Play2Nurture project used the therapeutic power of play to create the conditions where children facing adversity build resilience and have better chances in life. It further develops Play Gloucestershire’s emerging play nurture approach, which builds on 15 years’ experience of running a universal Play Ranger service in disadvantaged local communities and targeted work in school settings. The play nurture approach works with small groups of identified children using the therapeutic power of play to offer respite from and to help children cope with the ups and downs of daily economic and emotional hardships. In this, the Play Rangers work at the intersection of playwork and play therapy. The nominations for this Award were so strong that the judging panel also wanted to acknowledge the work of Project Play

Project Play was founded in August 2018 by volunteers working in northern France to support displaced communities sleeping in informal camps. On food distributions, friends Claire and Caia realized there was a stark lack of support and protection available to children and young people living in these informal camps in Dunkirk. They therefore decided to create a project to provide safe spaces and play for the children, with the goal of supporting their all-round wellbeing.

Project Play ran its first session in November 2018. To date, it has provided play at twelve different sites: six accommodation centres, a day-centre, a safe house and four informal camps. Project Play has worked with hundreds of children and run, on average, six sessions every week. It has welcomed and said goodbye to dozens of talented volunteers with a range of skills and expertise.

The Play and Community Development Award 2025 Haringey Play Association

The association supports children’s right to play and asserts that play is “essential to every child’s life, a biological need which is vital for children’s development as well as a right enshrined in Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child”.

“We follow the Playwork Principles which describe play as ‘what children and young people do when they follow their own ideas and interests, in their own way, and for their own reasons’. We are committed to promoting children’s agency and providing spaces and opportunities where they are free to be children and make their own decisions without unnecessary adult interference.

“Our services are entirely free at the point of use and we embrace the diversity of our community.”

The UK Playwork Sector Award 2025 PlayBoard NI

PlayBoard NI is the region’s leading play organisation. It strives to be an effective, innovative and responsive organisation, which brings evidence-based intelligence and best practice together to empower our members, children and young people, parents, communities and individuals, while influencing continuous improvement in the delivery of play services. It does this through a combination of service delivery and development; research; and campaigning and lobbying. It also works in partnership with others to put play on the agenda

The Paul Bonel Special Mention Award 2025 Mick Conway

The former Chair of London Play is one of the pioneers – alongside Paul Bonel and Kim Holdaway – of Playday, the national day for play. Playday highlights the importance of play in children’s lives and was set up back in 1986, following cuts on school-based play centres and adventure playgrounds in London.

Conway came up with the notion of having a day for play; a notion which caught on and is now celebrated yearly to raise awareness about the importance of play in children’s lives.

2025 PLAYWORK AWARDS RECIPIENTS