Winners - Good Relations Awards 2027

Highly Commended

Good Relations Youth Award (Under 25) ・ 2024

Nadia Boudhaim Maguire

Nadia is an outstanding advocate for Good Relations and is very successfully engaged in a series of programmes promoting and celebrating diversity including initiatives: – fostering & celebrating cross-community cooperation, educational equaity, promoting women’s safety & celebrating International Women’s Day. Nadia is a school student and has juggled her academic studies with her diverse volunteering work. Nadia has taken on active leadership roles, implementing practical actions that benefit the a diverse range of citizens. She is very successfully engaged in a series of programmes promoting and celebrating diversity; Since 2022 Nadia has been an Ambassador in the EmpowHer programme, and a Youth Committee leader with the Active Communities Network. Nadia was a participant in the Albert Schweitzer Leadership for Life Conference (July 2022). The Conference brought together young people of different race, ethnicity and religions, encouraging them to learn about each other’s cultures.Since June 2023 Nadia has been a member of the GOLF (Generating Opportunities, Learning Futures) volunteer team. Nadia is not simply a participant but has taken on strong leadership roles in these Good Relations programmes e.g. she was the primary spokesperson in the campaign for the peace gates in West Belfast to be opened for longer hours.

1st Place Winner

Good Relations Volunteer of the Year Award ・ 2024

Yvonne Heaney

Yvonne has committed 25 years of her life to supporting cross-community work and projects, for young people and adults. She has also guided and inspired young people from partner countries during international youth exchanges. Yvonne has actively assisted with the planning and delivery of cross-community residentials and projects for youth programmes and has similarly assisted with planning and delivery of shared education programmes in schools. Since becoming a Group Leader in 2000, Yvonne has assisted or supervised young people on cross-community residentials and activities, international youth exchanges, shared education programmes and weekly club nights. During her 23 year Leadership & Committee role with REACH Across, Yvonne has enabled hundreds of cross-community friendships and has helped to instill an integrative and inclusive mindset into hundreds of young people in a vulnerable and influential age group (14 – 17yes) She has been a dedicated and wholehearted supporter of the cross-community work and programmes of REACH Across, as a Member, Leader and Committee Member. She has been a role model to Members and peers because of her genuine and active belief in integrated education, cross-community youth work and a shared future.

Highly Commended

Good Relations Community Champion Award ・ 2024

Ioana Stoica

Ioana Stoica was nominated for this recognition based on her outstanding voluntary contributions to the community. She has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to good relations work, fostering mutual respect, and celebrating diversity in Armagh Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council. Her role within the community is extensive, from providing support and translation services for the Romanian-speaking community to organising information sessions, cultural gatherings, and educational events that bring people together. Her work has made a positive impact by promoting mutual respect and understanding, strengthening diversity, and enhancing the celebration and embracing different cultures. Ioana has also played a pivotal role in changing community attitudes by challenging stereotypes, advocating for inclusivity, and contributing to peacebuilding efforts. She was nominated as a Community Champion for her tireless dedication to creating a more inclusive and harmonious community. She is not paid for any of her work and it is felt rare nowadays to find people like her doing so much positive work, so selfless, empathetic, generous and free.

1st Place Winner

Good Relations Youth Award (Under 25) ・ 2024

Crosslinks Volunteer Team - Youth Initiatives

The Crosslinks volunteer team, composed of individuals aged 16-19, serves as a highly commendable example of teenagers actively making a positive impact on both their immediate and broader communities. Through their leadership and actions, they establish a culture characterised by inclusivity, mutual understanding, the celebration of diversity, and the promotion of culture through peer-driven education. They actively foster friendships that bridge community divisions and provide a platform for the voices of our youth to be heard and valued. They are an example to society of what can happen when young people from different backgrounds come together, to listen & work together, to provide spaces to explore difference, appreciate it, then rejoice in it, while holding onto what makes them unique. The dynamic diversity witnessed in the weekly programmes that then is displayed in a final yearly show is inspiring and exciting as an example of creating a culture of inclusion, safety, mutual understanding and diversity. The friendships built through the arts across the various divides provide a voice now & for future generations to follow. These friendships themselves often last a lifetime!

1st Place Winner

Good Relations Community Champion Award ・ 2023

Nicole Sloan

Nicole is a Radius tenant living in a Shared Housing development built as part of the T:BUC and ‘Housing for All’ Strategy. She is passionate and promotes culture, diversity, acceptance, respect and understanding through themes including health and wellbeing, arts and culture, advice, advocacy and training, education and employment. Encouraging engagement from all sectors of the community to live together in one space respectfully, Nicole has tirelessly given her time freely to the community, and championed the cause of good relations over the past three years. She builds the capacity of others as well as being on her own personal development journey, making a positive impact, changing attitudes and providing invaluable support to many. Nicole is a driver of change and steadfast in her aim to create a more inclusive, diverse and respectful society for the future.

Highly Commended

Good Relations Youth Award (Under 25) ・ 2023

VOYPIC Women's Group

VOYPIC was created in 1993 by a group of children and young people in care and supporting practitioners. The organisation is an independent children’s charity that promotes the rights and voice of children in care and young people leaving care. The organisation believe that every child in care should feel safe, valued and loved, and every young person leaving care should do so with dignity, respect and thrive into adulthood. They provide help, support and advice to children and young people up to the age of 25. Using a strengths-based approach, they strive to reach out to children and young people and make a real difference in their day to day lives.

Highly Commended

Good Relations Connecting Communities Project of the Year Award ・ 2023

Tada Rural Support Network Geraldine Lawless (Chair)

TADA Rural Support Network is a voluntary community group made up of 10 voluntary board members. The Chairperson of the organisation is Geraldine Lawless. TADA has over 20 years’ experience of providing tailored support to identify and meet the needs of local rural community groups. TADA work in partnership with a wide range of statutory and voluntary agencies to offer better access to services, and improve the quality of life for rural people, providing training for group development and organise networking events to bring communities together to support rural regeneration. TADA is one of seven Rural Support Network providers in Northern Ireland awarded the DAERA Rural Community Development Support Service contracted to provide local community development support.

Highly Commended

Good Relations Youth Award (Under 25) ・ 2023

St Johns and Killowen Primary Schools pupils Coleraine

St Johns and Killowen primary schools in Coleraine are shared education partners and work together regularly on good relations and community cohesion projects. Their principles Helen McDonnell and Arlene Moon have worked tirelessly to promote their shared ethos and have developed a successful relationship between the schools in their work to create and celebrate mutual understanding and community cohesion. It is clear to see the commitment of the pupils and the teachers to advance Good Relations in the area and they recognise their part in this, participating fully and enthusiastically in bringing their learning out into the wider community.

1st Place Winner

Good Relations Youth Award (Under 25) ・ 2023

Aaron Smith

Aaron has been involved in Youth work for over 6 years, having been initially a Young Leader then an Ambassador on the Uniting Communities through Sport and Creative activities T:BUC Programme. He has now gone full circle in his leadership and good relations journey having secured employment as a Youth Mentor on the T:BUC Uniting Communities South Belfast Programme. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in both voluntary and community sectors across all communities in Northern Ireland and is currently developing an international programme for Cyprus, which aims to promote human rights and inclusion through sport. In 2019, Aaron took part in Camp America in New York as a youth instructor and counsellor working with inner city young people in Harlem, encouraging better relationships and challenging their views on violence. Aaron took part in One Young World in 2022, where he spent one week in Washington DC completing homelessness awareness and working directly with homeless shelters to provide a service.

1st Place Winner

Community Relations Council Exceptional Achievement Award (peacebuilding) ・ 2023

Angila Chada

Angila has made an exceptional contribution to peacebuilding and Good Relations in Northern Ireland. She has dedicated her life’s work to promoting inclusion and diversity, and creating opportunities for those that need it most. A visionary and change maker, Angila has been at the forefront of peacebuilding at a grassroots level for over 30 years, leading with passion and determination. She is humble yet formidable in her pursuit of a more inclusive, diverse, accepting, and peaceful society for all.