The London Sport Awards return on 21 March 2024
The London Sport Awards, supported by the City of London Corporation, returned for its seventh edition to recognise and celebrate the efforts of volunteers, physical activity projects and sports organisations who have improved the lives of Londoners, not just with their physical health, but their mental and social wellbeing too.
This year’s London Sport Awards took place in the prestigious Guildhall on 23 March 2023.
London Sport Awards 2023 Winners
Swing Fitness
Digital and Tech Innovation Award in association with Exergame
Swing Fitness, a fit-tech company, has been awarded the Digital and Tech Innovation Award for their innovative approach to getting Londoners active and enjoying the capital’s green spaces.
The company’s Swing Boxes, outdoor gym benches with integrated free weights, are placed in local parks for subscribers to use and are leased to healthcare charities, local authorities, and housing providers. With plans to have 50 Swing Boxes in place across 13 London boroughs by April 2023, Swing Fitness hopes to transform the city’s green open spaces into health and wellbeing hotspots, making high-quality training facilities accessible and affordable to everyone.
Single Homeless Project - Sport Project
Community Impact Award in association with 4Global
The Single Homeless Project (SHP) has won the Community Impact Award in association with 4Global for its Sports Project.
The project aims to help homeless and at-risk individuals across 11 London boroughs by removing barriers to regular exercise and improving their physical and mental health, as well as social confidence. Since launching in 2017, the Sports Project has successfully helped hundreds of people, with 92% of participants seeing an improvement in their physical health and 89% reporting a boost in their mental wellbeing. SHP’s Sports Project made a positive impact on the wider community, particularly in light of the rising number of people sleeping rough in London.
Harlequins Foundation
Elite Sport in the Community Award in association with The British Army
The Harlequins Foundation has won the Elite Sport in the Community Award for using rugby to transform the lives of young people in London.
The charity uses rugby to tackle inequality and to help young people access education and training. The Harlequins Foundation works with over 7,000 young people each year, and its impact has been recognised by the award, which celebrates sports clubs using the power of sport to change lives for the better.
Disability Sports Coach
Uniting London Award in association with Sport England
Disability Sports Coach, a charity that uses sport to improve the health and social connections of people with disabilities, has won the Uniting London Award.
The charity offers regular sessions at over a dozen locations across London, including online sessions for those unable to attend in person. It also trains sports coaches to make sports accessible to all. The charity’s efforts have been crucial in reducing barriers preventing people with disabilities from being active and combating the long-term effects of physical inactivity. The charity was awarded for its dedication and positive impact on Londoners’ physical wellbeing.
QMSU Community Foundation
Enhancing the Workforce Award in association with Chipotle
The QMSU Community Foundation programme at Queen Mary University of London has won the Enhancing the Workforce Award.
The university’s student union runs a program that offers sports leadership and workforce development to students who make a positive impact on Tower Hamlets’ community. They partner with schools and sports clubs, organise initiatives and camps, and engage over 51,000 participants in free and affordable sports activities. The programme has also logged over 10,000 hours of physical activity and provided leadership opportunities for over 550 students.
UBS
Business Contribution Award in association with the City of London Corporation
UBS, a leading financial services company, has won the Business Contribution Award for its 15-year partnership with Sport Inspired.
The award recognises UBS’s long-term commitment to encouraging young people in East London, particularly in Hackney, to get active. The partnership involves funding and volunteer support from UBS for sports festivals and free clubs within schools. UBS also provides emergency funding during and after COVID-19 to enhance existing PE and school sport delivery. UBS was awarded for its sustained contribution to young people’s physical, social, and mental well-being, particularly in East London.
Barclays Girls Football Partnership - Featherstone School Partnership
Supporting Young Londoners Award in association with Play Innovation
Featherstone School Sport Partnership in Southall won the Supporting Young Londoners Award for improving equal access to football for girls in Ealing.
The partnership engages with schools and provides initiatives for underrepresented groups, including those with special needs or disabilities, financial difficulties, and minority ethnic backgrounds. With backed-up data, the program has positively impacted young girls’ lives. The award is a significant achievement that enables the partnership to share its success stories.
Michelle Weltman
Lifetime Achievement Award in association with BBC Radio London
Michelle Weltman, Head of Disability at London Marathon Events and chair of London Disability Swim Club, has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for her more than 30 years of work and volunteering in disability sport.
Michelle has coached several Paralympic swimmers and has helped change the face of disability sport in London forever by forming the London Disability Swim Club and integrating disabled swimmers into mainstream clubs. She has also been helping the organisers of the world’s leading marathons to improve their wheelchair races since 2015. Michelle’s legacy in disability sport has had a tremendous impact on the lives of hundreds of people in the London.
Mytime Active
Health and Wellbeing Award
MyTime Active, a charity that helps Londoners with long-term health conditions stay active, won the Health and Wellbeing Award for its Active Lifestyles project in the Bromley area.
The charity provides a range of classes and guidance in sports, fitness, weight management, and nutrition, offering support to people of all ages. Their programme involves an assessment, exercise programme development, and access to subsidised health membership and free activities, resulting in significant improvements in health and wellbeing scores for participants.
Ziana Butt BEM
Volunteer of the Year Award
Ziana Butt, a rising star of netball and the first person of Pakistani heritage to represent England in netball, has won the Volunteer of the Year Award.
As an England Netball Young Volunteer and Youth Sport Trust Forum representative, Ziana has worked tirelessly to make the sport more inclusive and challenge stereotypes surrounding diversity in sport. She has also co-authored a book aimed at encouraging more children from South Asian backgrounds to take up sport. Ziana was awarded for her commitment to volunteering, encouraging wider and ongoing conversations about diversity and inclusion within sport and inspiring future generations.
Full list of finalists
The Supporting Young Londoners Award celebrates the outstanding work of individuals and organisations who are providing young people (under the age of 25) with the best opportunity to live a physically active life.
Whether in school or within the community, this Award celebrates those initiatives that are having significant impact on supporting young people to enjoy the benefits of physical activity and sport.
Shortlisted nominees
- Barclays Girls Football School Partnership- Featherstone School Sport Partnership: Featherstone School Sport Partnership is a Barclays Girls Football School Partnership, based in Southall, with the aim to increase equal access for girls to football in Ealing schools. They provide both curriculum and extra-curricular provisions, with several initiatives and programs, including the SEND Girls Football Festival. The Partnership has also worked to upskill school staff and develop a primary and secondary leadership program for ethnic minority girls.
- Bethany Thompson: Bethany, a PE teacher at Stepney Green Maths, Computing and Science College, has been committed to creating a positive environment for girls. She has driven change to ensure that girls can now participate in single-sex PE, which has increased their confidence and enjoyment. Through the Youth Sport Trust’s Girls Active programme, Bethany has empowered girls by giving them a voice, engaging them in leadership roles, and facilitating unique experiences.
- Swim England: The London Legacy Project aimed to promote physical activity, improve wellbeing and bring communities together in London’s most deprived boroughs. They provided free swimming lessons to 59 children in Southwark, Dagenham, and Enfield during the pandemic; worked with community groups in Haringey to understand participation barriers for ethnically diverse communities; and supported diving development by providing bursaries to young people to train as assistant and diving coaches.
The Digital and Tech Innovation Award recognises creative new thinking, innovative ideas, or the creation and/or use of digital or technological methods to support inactive Londoners to get and stay physically active.
The Digital and Tech Innovation Award celebrates those groups and/or individuals who have taken a creative new approach and championed innovation in the physical activity and sport sector and are using it to have a positive impact in London.
Shortlisted nominees
- Swing Fitness: Swing Fitness is a Fit-Tech company founded in 2021 that aims to reduce barriers to physical activity and get Londoners moving. They have created the Swing Box, an outdoor gym-bench with integrated free-weights, and the Swing App, which unlocks its functionality on an affordable pay-as-you-go or subscription basis. Swing has already placed 17 boxes into 11 London parks and aims to place 50 boxes across 13 London boroughs by April 2023, with hopes to deploy 500 by 2024.
- StreetTT: StreetTT is a mobile and web app that connects urban table tennis players into a worldwide online league. The app was created in 2020 and offers a free and accessible way to play the sport safely in the open air, offering a way for people to make friends and improve their physical and mental wellbeing.
- Playfinder, powering Bookteq: Playfinder is a sports booking platform that aims to increase accessibility to sport and play. They recently launched PaySplit, an in-app payment splitting feature that allows users to split the cost of bookings among their team/group. PaySplit not only shifts financial responsibility from individuals to the group but also brings more users in contact with the Playfinder app, making sport facilities more accessible.
The Elite Sport in the Community Award celebrates the organisations / professional sports clubs who use the power, reach and influence of their sport as a force for positive change in their community and change people’s lives for the better.
Winners to be announced at the London Sport Awards Ceremony in March.
The Uniting London Award celebrates those who strive to break down barriers, make physical activity and sport accessible to all people and communities across our city and bring Londoners together.
The Uniting London Award celebrates organisations and projects that utilise physical activity and sport to build cohesive communities by bringing people together to welcome, empower and embrace ethnic, cultural, physical and other differences.
Shortlisted nominees
- Disability Sports Coach: Disability Sports Coach aims to improve the lives of disabled people in London by providing inclusive physical activity opportunities through their Community Clubs. Since reopening after the pandemic, they have welcomed almost 300 disabled people and their families. Their impact goes beyond physical and mental health, with six participants becoming qualified sport coaches and finding paid employment.
- England Netball & The Metropolitan Police Service: Beyond The Court is a partnership between the Metropolitan Police Service and England Netball aiming to build trust and open up conversations about youth violence with young women and girls. The project offers a series of netball and police activity days to develop practical netball skills, build confidence and create genuine connections between participants and the police.
- Aberfeldy Boxing Club: Aberfeldy Boxing Club (ABC) in Tower Hamlets provides access to affordable physical activities, including boxing, fitness classes, personal training, open gym sessions, and an amateur boxing squad for people of all ages and abilities. They have delivered extensive activities to reach new audiences, including launching a women-only programme and delivering weekly classes for neurodivergent children and adults.
The Community Impact Award shines a spotlight on grassroots physical activity and sport clubs, groups, teams and projects delivering great service and benefits to its users and/or the wider community.
The Community Impact Award captures and celebrates a wide cohort of not only grassroots physical activity and sport clubs, but also groups, teams and projects, whether that’s in a traditional sport setting or across London’s parks and streets.
Shortlisted nominees
- SHP (Single Homeless Project) Sport Project: The Sport Project at Single Homeless Project (SHP) in London creates physical activity opportunities for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness. 800 people have been involved in activities such as boxing, football, yoga, and cycling across 11 boroughs, with a focus on removing barriers and improving social confidence. The project has also introduced women-only sessions and aims to influence other organizations to embed physical activity as part of the core provision for homelessness.
- Play Innovation: Play Innovation – a specialist in creating inspiring sports and play solutions, worked with residents of Alma Street in Newham, London, to create a multi-activity ballcourt capable of hosting a range of sports and activities. The project was part of the Greener Together initiative and has helped set up Grow Together, a community-led programme to tackle climate and social injustice in London.
- Evolve Cycling Network: Evolve is a cycling community encouraging Muslim women to participate in cycling as a sport, mode of transport, and means to combat loneliness. Their partnership with Harrow Cycle Hub has trained over 100 women and they have 5 qualified Breeze Champions who lead rides of varying difficulty. The club now has over 60 kids trained by certified coaches.
The Enhancing the Workforce Award recognises the individuals, organisations, groups or programmes that have supported their workforce to grow and develop.
This Award recognises whoever is enhancing the sporting workforce; whether it’s supporting, training or mentoring coaches, volunteers, administrators, officials or any other part of the sporting workforce.
Shortlisted nominees
- QMSU Community Foundation: The QMSU Community Foundation is a sport leadership and workforce development programme at Queen Mary University of London. The programme has engaged 45 community leaders and amassed over 90 training engagements between July 2021 and September 2022. The programme also includes a social cohesion sport programme and a young leaders academy.
- StreetGames: StreetGames London has delivered over 75 workshops and 8 accredited courses to over 1000 learners, using the power of sport to strengthen communities and transform the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in London and across the UK.
- Triton Training: Triton Training, offers free swimming qualifications to unemployed and untrained individuals living in London. Triton Training provides laptops, T-shirts, and employment opportunities to its learners, and is offering free crash-course swimming lessons for Brent children. The initiative has enrolled 35 people so far, 43% of whom are female and 54% live in an area within the 40% most deprived.
This Award recognises the valuable contribution of businesses of all sizes in providing sponsorship, support, and resources which enable community physical activity and sport to thrive in London.
This Award celebrates businesses with a bold and innovative approach to Responsible Business and can demonstrate they make a real tangible difference in local communities.
The Business Contribution Award also celebrates the individual business role models who inspire and motivate others to support community physical activity and sport initiatives.
Shortlisted nominees
- UBS: UBS and SportInspired have been partners since 2008, working together to tackle poverty-related issues for children and young people in Hackney. UBS provides financial and operational support for SportInspired’s programmes, which introduce over 200 children to 6 local sports in every festival. After the festivals, UBS and SportInspired establish free school Legacy clubs to encourage long-term participation.
- Southwark Stars x Tutti x Clear Channel UK: Southwark Stars is a voluntary football club for over 70 men and women with a learning disability in London. Tutti, a branding studio, and Clear Channel UK, a media owner, provided free expertise and space for a rebranding and billboard campaign to promote the club and inspire more disabled Londoners to play football.
- Truman Brewery: Truman Brewery has been nominated for its ongoing sponsorship and support for the Social Organisation for Unity and Leisure (SOUL). The business has provided significant financial support for weekly sports activities, mentoring projects, and a sports academy for 150 young people. This support has enabled SOUL to deliver multi-sports sessions to up to 200 children every weekend and tackle socio-economic barriers through tailored mentoring support.
The Lifetime Achievement award seeks to honour those who have given least 25 years of service in the physical activity, elite sport or community sport sector.
The recipient of the award is someone that has had a significant and positive impact on the people they have worked with over the course of their active involvement in the sector. Their commitment to, and passion for improving lives through the use of physical activity or sport is exemplary to all.
Winner to be announced the London Sport Awards ceremony in March.
The Health and Wellbeing Award highlights significant achievements in using physical activity to promote physical and mental health and wellbeing, emphasising the vital role that being physically active plays in supporting health outcomes. Solutions should meet the needs of these less active Londoners and also look to reduce the inequalities that persist in people having the opportunities to live active lives.
This Award shines a light on those supporting Londoners with their physiological health, mental wellbeing, health management or any of the wider outcomes supported by physical activity and sport.
Shortlisted nominees
- Mytime Active: Mytime Active’s extensive Active Lifestyles programme helps people with health conditions increase physical activity levels and improve their wellbeing. The programme includes exercise referral schemes and free community walks. 65% of participants saw a significant improvement in their health and wellbeing scores, and 60% achieved or exceeded physical activity guidelines.
- ‘Active Wellbeing (Wandsworth and Richmond)’ by Enable Leisure and Culture): Active Wellbeing is a physical activity support programme that aims to improve the physical and mental health of adults with severe mental health conditions. The programme has helped over 700 people and has achieved positive outcomes such as increased physical activity levels, improved mental wellbeing, reduced BMI, and improved waist to hip ratio.
- Core Arts: Core Arts’ pilot digital recovery platform – Patient Knows Best – is aimed at improving the physical health and wellbeing of adults with severe mental illness, helping clients manage their own care by logging daily moods, exercise, sleep, medications, and more. They provided Fitbits and held a group challenge where 15 members reached 4.3 million steps in a month, inspiring them to continue staying active.
Volunteer of the Year celebrates the outstanding contribution of volunteers to grassroots physical activity and sport; individuals who share their knowledge, passion and skills and give their time generously.
The Volunteer of the Year Award celebrates those people that support grassroots physical activity and sport with their know-how, dedication and hands-on approach. The volunteers we’ll be celebrating gladly give up their time for the benefit of people in every borough in every corner of the capital.
Shortlisted nominees
- Ziana Butt BEM: Ziana is an England Netball Young Volunteer and Youth Sport Trust Forum representative committed to making the sport more inclusive. A visible athletic role model, and a co-author of the book Aisha’s Netball, she is breaking the stereotypes, encouraging conversation about diversity, inclusion and sport, and making all Asian youngsters more accepted.
- Steve King: Steve has transformed people’s lives after creating a Sutton United football team for people with disabilities where they could feel safe and motivated. He has been coaching and match organising over the last 18 months and is working on creating a new Friendship League to give the players a real focus and help his local community.
- Mikey Thompson: Mikey is a level 3 coach, a champion for disability and women and girls cricket, and an inspiration to his students after delivering grassroots cricket to local schools and the community in London for over 30 years. Mikey uses his skills to innovate, include more people in the game and inspire others.
Thanks to our partners
Proud Partner of the London Sport Awards 2023
We are delighted to be sponsoring this year’s London Sport Awards and wish everybody an enjoyable and successful evening.
The City of London Corporation is the governing body of the Square Mile – the financial district and historic centre of London – and is dedicated to a vibrant and thriving City, supporting a diverse and sustainable London within a globally-successful UK.
We have a long history of supporting sport and physical activity across the Square Mile and beyond, from celebrating major sport and participation events taking place in London to delivering smaller projects and initiatives to encourage our residents and workers to undertake a healthier lifestyle. We work with various partners and stakeholders to deliver on sport events and initiatives that:
- Contribute to a flourishing society through sport participation and encouraging sporting success.
- Shape outstanding environments by utilising our assets and open spaces to encourage physical activity and wellbeing.
- Support a thriving economy by showcasing London as a global sports destination and encouraging economic development from major sport events.
Find out about some of the sporting activities and events we are delivering to business and local communities in the City and across our open spaces on our website at: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/sport
Play Innovation offers unique physical activity experiences for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. It does this through its patented target games – which offer countless physical and mental benefits as well as teach key life skills – and by working collaboratively with partners to transform tired parks, playgrounds and ball courts into welcoming, inclusive and engaging social hubs.
Exergame Europe provides fun and functional fitness technology and gaming fitness products. Also known as active gaming, exergaming, immersive fitness and interactive fitness, products that are geared towards improving overall health and wellness through improved reaction time, balance, co-ordination and strength training exercises. Individuals can challenge themselves to improve their fitness or compete against others with essential feedback through recorded performance scores.
4Global is a data, services and software company focused on the promotion and measurement of physical activity. Its work has seen it form partnerships across the sector driving health and physical activity. 4Global’s Datahub, sources data from across the sport and activity ecosystem, facilitating integration across government, cities, federations, private and public activity providers.
Sport England is a public body and invests up to £300 million National Lottery and government money each year in projects and programmes that help people get active and play sport. It wants everyone in England – regardless of age, background, bank balance, ability, gender or where they live – to have the opportunity to get active. That’s why tackling inequalities is at the heart of its 10-year strategy Uniting the Movement, with work focused on helping people who do no, or very little, physical activity and groups who are typically less active – like women, disabled people and people on lower incomes.
BBC Radio London is the home of London sport, with a sports show every weekday evening from 6-8pm as well as live commentary. Salma El Wardany and Eddie Nestor both have regular weekday shows on the station which broadcasts on 94.9FM, Digital Radio, TV, online and mobile.
Chipotle Mexican Grill is cultivating a better world by serving responsibly sourced, classically-cooked, real food with wholesome ingredients without artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. We have 13 restaurants across the capital serving ‘real food for real athletes’.
The British Army works as a team to protect the nation and its dependent territories. We engage around the World to help prevent future conflict and can also help in the event of large-scale civil emergencies, be that at home or overseas. Our people are at the heart of everything we do and teamwork ensures we are mentally and physically prepared for whatever challenge comes our way. In The British Army, sport at all levels, with its mental health and wellbeing benefits, is a vital part of our success. Sport is the secret weapon that helps us to build strong teams, provide cohesion, a powerful sense of belonging, and ensures we’re all fit for the job, fit for the nation, fit to fight.
We are a diverse, close-knit community of creators, makers and innovators. Based in London’s brand-new Design District, Ravensbourne is renowned for its strong links to industry. From day one, our students are building connections with practitioners and working on real-life projects with recognised brands.
Each year we celebrate everything great about grassroots physical activity and sport at the London Sport Awards.
Our Hall of Fame highlights previous London Sport Awards winners who have helped to make London a healthier and happier place.
Contact Us
Keep a close eye out on our social media channels, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram for all the latest news on the London Sport Awards and for any questions just get in touch with us at [email protected] or call 0203 848 4630.
