Celebrating success at Air Ambulances UK Awards of Excellence 2025

It was another exciting, proud and emotional night at the annual Air Ambulances UK (AAUK) Awards of Excellence on Wednesday 3 December 2025. If you didn’t know, the Awards celebrate and recognise the dedicated professionals who tirelessly contribute their specialist lifesaving skills and commitment to the air ambulance community, including those who work hard to support it.

Great Western Air Ambulance Charity’s (GWAAC) CEO Anna Perry attended, representing GWAAC and our five brilliant finalists. And we are thrilled to announce that out of the five awards, we were winners in one category and highly commended in three others! But we are extraordinarily proud of all five finalists and the wonderful contribution they have made to GWAAC.

Highly commended in the Breaking Barriers category

We were delighted to be highly commended in the Breaking Barriers category for demonstrating exceptional, practical commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion with our efforts to support hospital doctors moving into Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine (PHEM).

A huge congratulations go to Dr Nicky Moore and our PHEM Trainees who have made the Access to PHEM programme such a success by providing mentorship and educational support, with a focus on improving access for underrepresented groups such as female doctors.

Dr Andy Locker, GWAAC’s Medical Director said, “I’m very proud of the team behind GWAAC’s Access to PHEM programme. They thoroughly deserve this recognition for their work in opening doors to careers in PHEM. The programme’s success shows the impact of targeted mentorship and support in breaking down barriers to pre-hospital careers.”

Highly commended for Innovation of the Year

Our Junior Hearts initiative was highly commended in the Innovation of the Year category. Still in its trial phase, Junior Hearts is a unique and accessible innovation designed to inspire the next generation of lifesavers. We are aiming to build on the success of our Great Western Hearts programme for secondary schools by introducing the basics of CPR to primary school children.

Thanks to the support we received from National Highways’ Social Values Fund and design agency Hook Studio, we impressed the judges with our fun, flat-packed educational content that includes everything a teacher needs to deliver the training.

GWAAC Education Coordinator Kate Amor says, “We’re so delighted that our Junior Hearts initiative has been recognised in these national awards. One of the biggest barriers to people stepping forward and doing bystander CPR is confidence. And if we start teaching young people from an early age that this is the correct thing to do, this gives people confidence to step forward. It makes a difference.”

Highly commended for Young Person of the Year

We already know that young fundraiser Sophie Pascoe is amazing and now it seems the whole UK air ambulance industry thinks so too!

Sophie has been highly commended in the Young Person of the Year category for making a significant contribution to GWAAC in the past 12 months to July 2025.

After GWAAC’s crew came to the aid of her late grandfather in 2024, Sophie from Weston-super-Mare was determined to give something back. She has raised over £6,000 across two swimathon challenges that firstly saw her swim the equivalent distance of crossing the English Channel (21 miles), before more recently taking on the challenge of swimming the same distance as climbing Mount Everest (40 miles). Sophie's family have been supporting her every step (or stroke) of the way.

Charlie Rowen, GWAAC Events Manager, congratulated Sophie on her incredible achievement: “From everyone here at GWAAC I would like to say a huge thank you and congratulations to Sophie for completing her swimming challenges and now being highly commended for this much deserved award, what an incredible achievement! It has been such a pleasure to get to know Sophie and her family, we are so impressed by her dedication to her swimming challenges to raise money and honour her Grandad.”

It’s not too late to support Sophie. Just go to her JustGiving page.#

Finalist in Charity Volunteer of the Year category

Everyone at GWAAC is in awe of Holly Sheehan, our wonderful supporter and fundraiser, who does her utmost to raise awareness and much-needed funds for our service. We are so pleased that Holly’s efforts and those of her family and friends have been recognised in the 2025 Air Ambulances UK Awards of Excellence.

In 2018, Holly lost her younger brother Luke to a workplace accident. Our crew were called to Luke that day and the family have supported and fundraised for our charity ever since. This year, Luke should have been turning 30 and his friends and family wanted to mark his birthday by reaching the milestone of £30,000 raised. They smashed this goal and have raised over £40,000 with friends of Luke completing a run from Westminster to Keynsham earlier this year. 

Leading much of the fundraising was Holly, who has shown incredible resilience and drive in the face of such profound loss. Holly, her family and friends just missed out on a win in the Charity Volunteer of the Year category; they were in the top three in a tough category with 10 others. Being a finalist is a wonderful recognition of their exceptional contribution to GWAAC.

Ian Cantoni, Head of Fundraising at GWAAC says, “I can think of few people more deserving than Holly, her family, and friends to receive recognition in the Air Ambulances UK Awards of Excellence 2025.”

Winner of Supplier of the Year category

And we’ve saved the winner to last! We’d like to congratulate facilities management company FLT Group on winning Supplier of the Year category. FLT Group have been our trusted GWAAC supplier for over three years. During the past 12 months especially, when we’ve faced tighter budgets and rising pressures, FLT Group has delivered critical maintenance, supported key projects, and gone the extra mile, stepping up for everything from day-to-day jobs to last-minute emergencies.

GWAAC Facilities Manager Sean Coles says, “FLT Group work quietly behind the scenes of GWAAC, but their dedication and reliability are vital to keeping us safe, operational, and ready to respond. They see what needs doing and just get it done helping us meet our daily needs. Congratulations to FLT Group for winning this award and being recognised for their dedication, responsiveness and genuine support for our charity.”

Anna Perry, CEO of GWAAC says:
“I’m thrilled for our wonderful winners and finalists of this year’s Air Ambulance UK Awards of Excellence! It’s a credit to them that their hard work and commitment to keeping GWAAC flying has been recognised by the industry. As you might expect, there are lots of different moving parts to keeping our vital service operational for people in urgent need in our region, and it’s the people and supporters behind the scenes that make it all possible.”

Lindsay Boswell, Interim CEO of Air Ambulances UK, said:
“Congratulations to our 2025 Awards of Excellence winners. These awards shine a light on the extraordinary individuals, teams, and supporters who make it possible for air ambulance charities to deliver critical care every single day. The standard of nominations this year was remarkable, and we are proud to recognise those who go above and beyond to support patients, families, and the wider sector. My thanks go to our judges for their thoughtful consideration, and to Babcock International Group for generously sponsoring this year’s awards.”