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The wonderful winning projects in the Innovation in Mindfulness Awards 2024 are:

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·      Mindfulness for Refugees

·      Look Again

·      Stix Mindfulness

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At the Manchester Mindfulness Festival in October, we gathered with finalists, judges and experts in the field for a celebration of creativity in bringing mindfulness to new communities.

Vin spoke about the inspiration and the purpose behind the innovations awards, saying,

“For me innovation is something really simple, its essence is that there's something that could be better and a decision to do something about it - which actually is compassion.

"Like everybody here, I wanted to make mindfulness more accessible. And accessibility doesn't necessarily mean through poverty or lack of resources, it could just mean that people haven't yet found an approach to mindfulness that resonates with their lived experience.

"We can't change the essence of mindfulness, it's very simple - and it would be sad if we tried - but we can present it in ways that will have people say, ‘ok, I can see why I might bother’.”

Before introducing the finalists, Menka highlighted the fact that many of us have ideas but not everyone goes on to pursue them, to take risks and make themselves vulnerable, to fill out the funding forms and handle the rejections, to fail and keep getting back up again. By taking on those challenges, innovators are making truly helpful things happen and we're here to celebrate them, to champion them and to support them.

We heard briefly from each of the fantastic finalists as they were presented with a trophy – you can read about them all in a previous blog post, here – and then three brilliant innovators stepped up to announce our winners. Grateful thanks for playing that role go to:

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- Mari Thorman, Strategy Advisor for Mindfulness@HSBC globally, co-chair of Mindfulness UK, and long-time friend to the Mindfulness Initiative

- Dr Tamara Russell, clinical psychologist, neuroscientist, martial artist and the Director of the Mindfulness Centre of Excellence

- Luke Doherty, Innovation Awards alumnus and co-founder of Mindful Peak Performance, delivering mindfulness programmes for elite athletes, leaders and teams

On behalf of Mindfulness for Refugees, Julia Powell explained that the prize money will make it possible to run their courses again after a period struggling to raise funds. She said that the Award “feels like it's recognition for the people who we've been working with at a time when many people are being attacked for simply being foreign in the UK, for seeking safety and sanctuary from war and persecution” and added that the curriculum is available freely for anybody to use.

Though Liam Murphy of Stix Mindfulness was unfortunately not able to be with us in person for the ceremony, he told us via email about his hopes for the future: “I would love to see Stix adopted by more schools and homes around the country to introduce mindfulness activities in a fun and engaging way, and for our start-up to continue innovating to meet the needs of new age-groups, enter new countries and produce new research.

"Overall though, I hope that more children are introduced to mindfulness from a younger age, whether that is through Stix or other innovations, so that they can grow into more mindful adults and we can develop a more accepting society.”

Ruth Davey, founder of Look Again, spoke passionately about the power of mindful photography. “We miss so much by rushing around this world, we don’t see most of what is in front of us and how it can help us, not just in the moment but also as we move forward into the future."

She explained that this powerful programme is adaptable to many different settings around the world and that she’d like to see it used more widely in schools and hospitals.

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Neurodiversity was a key theme in our Awards this year. As well as Stix having been inspired by Liam’s brother’s experience with ADHD, Ruth told us that she has recently been diagnosed, helping explain why she needed a new approach to mindfulness:

“By looking, actually seeing, and being creative, I can be very mindful in that moment and I know that so many other people can too.”

The work of innovation doesn’t stop as we wrap up the Awards for 2024! Please keep in touch and keep this community conversation alive. You can connect with all the finalists through their websites and via LinkedIn, and there’s so much more to say in this blog space. If you’ve got a topic to write about, drop us a line at innovationawards@mindfulnessinitiative.org.uk