Information for workers nominated for the 2026 Accolades

Our panel of judges will go through and shortlist all the nominations we receive. They’ll then meet in mid-December to decide the finalists.

We’ll let you and the person you’ve nominated know by mid-January 2026 if they’ve been chosen as one of our finalists.

The winner will be chosen by public vote and announced at the Accolades ceremony in summer 2026.

You and the person you’re nominating must agree that we can use the information in your nomination form to:

• promote and publicise the Accolades
• share notable practice and help others learn in the social care, social work and childcare, play and early years sectors.

We’ll make a short film of all the finalists, which will be shown at the awards ceremony.

Filming is likely to take place between January and February 2026, and all the finalists will need to make sure they’re available for filming. We’ll send the finalists more information about the filming in January 2026.

All the finalists could receive publicity in the media in Wales.

Our judging panel will shortlist the applications we receive. The winner will then be decided by public vote. There will only be one winner in each category.

The members of the judging panel mustn’t have any connection to the workers nominated for the Accolades.

The judges’ decision and the result of the public vote will be final and we won’t enter into correspondence about these outcomes.

We’ll award a trophy to the winner of each category and a certificate to all the finalists. There’ll be no cash awards or equivalent.

All the finalists will be invited to attend the Accolades awards ceremony in summer 2026. If a finalist can’t attend the ceremony, they’ll need to let us know beforehand and tell us who’ll accept the award or certificate on their behalf.

Finalists will be told how many places they have at the awards ceremony. Anyone attending the ceremony will have to pay their own travel and accommodation fees.

If we find out a finalist or their nominator has broken the rules – before or after an Accolade is presented – the judges may disqualify the worker. If this happens, the trophy and/or certificate must be sent back to us right away.

Closing date: 5pm, 10 November 2025 – we won’t accept any nominations after the closing date

Announcing finalists for the workers’ awards: mid-January 2026

Filming the finalists for the workers’ awards: January to February 2026

Public vote to choose the winners of the workers’ awards: March 2026

Accolades awards ceremony: summer 2026