Air Ambulances UK has announced its shortlist of award nominees for the 2022 Awards of Excellence, sponsored by Airbus. Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC) is delighted to have been shortlisted in six categories.

The annual awards celebrate and recognise the specialist lifesaving skills and commitment of those working tirelessly within, and in support of, the air ambulance community. Being shortlisted for six awards this year shows that GWAAC’s crew, charity staff and volunteers have been working as hard as ever to deliver a first-class pre-hospital critical care service to their local communities.

GWAAC has been shortlisted for the following awards:

• Breaking Barriers — Vicki Brown — for an air ambulance charity or individual who has demonstrated exceptional, practical commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion in their workplace.
• Charity Staff Member of the Year — Joe Hughes — for a staff member who has made an outstanding example of contributions to an air ambulance charity, employment record and evidence of high professional standards of performance and achievement.
• Charity Volunteer of the Year — Pino Giannitti — to recognise the valuable and essential contribution of volunteers to air ambulance charities. Their contribution might be in supporting events, fundraising, head office administration support or any other type of volunteering that has had a significant impact and benefit to an air ambulance charity over the past 12 months.
• Innovation of the Year award — Public Access Defibrillator Project — for an innovation that has been launched and is delivering significant beneficial impact for an individual charity or air ambulance sector in the last 12 months and that is substantially helping improve service delivery.
• Operations Support Staff of the Year — Richard Jenkinson— for an operations support staff member in recognition of either a sustained period of exemplary and outstanding service or a single incident involving Helicopter Emergency Medical Services operations that is of special note from the past 12 months.
• Special Incident — GWAAC Tactical Medicine Training in Ukraine — for an extraordinary air ambulance charity lifesaving mission that has been undertaken in the past 12 months.

A spokesperson for GWAAC, said: “We’re very proud of all our shortlisted nominees for their efforts in continually striving to provide the best service to the people and communities they serve. We will be keeping everything crossed for them on Awards night because in our eyes they all deserve to win”.

The annual awards ceremony is being held at Edgbaston Stadium, Birmingham on 14 November and will follow a conference during the day with a wide range of speakers covering various areas and topics. This will be the first in-person awards ceremony for the AAUK community since the start of the pandemic.

Simmy Akhtar, Air Ambulances UK CEO said “Congratulations to all those who have been shortlisted after long and hard deliberations from our independent judging panel all of whom have volunteered their time to support the recognition of our air ambulance community.  Thank you to all those who submitted awards nominations and we look forward to welcoming colleagues to our in person Annual Conference and Awards later this year”.