Sponsored by Landmarc
About this Award…
An award to honour the commitment and achievements of an individual, team or organisation in delivering greater diversity and inclusion within UK defence and the Armed Forces Community.
The judges will be looking for evidence of:
- An engaging story behind the individual, team or organisation, why they do what they do, the identified needs they are meeting.
- What challenges (both operational and personal) have been faced and how they have been overcome.
- The results for the armed forces community that have been achieved through the actions, activities and/or services delivered.
- The different or unique characteristics of the delivery work that can set standards of best practice across the sector and therefore makes this nomination special.
This award is suitable for a person or group.
Meet our 2021 Winner!
Emma Norton
Founder of the Centre for Military Justice (CMJ), providing legal services to current and former members of the Armed Forces, plsu bereaved families, who have suffered violence, harassment or abuse.
Emma Norton founded the Centre for Military Justice (CMJ) to provide legal services to current and former members of the Armed Forces who have suffered violence, harassment or abuse, plus bereaved families. Her challenging work has a strong focus on the welfare of serving and veteran personnel from minority groups.
In 2019, Emma took up the case of a Falklands veteran who had been court-martialled in the 1980s for being homosexual. His medals had been taken away and good conduct badges removed from his uniform. Emma negotiated with the MoD for them to be returned to him by the Secretary of State for Defence, and he now wears them with pride.
Emma realised that hundreds of veterans had been similarly treated. In the 21 years since the ban on the open service of LGBT+ personnel was lifted, LGBT+ serving personnel are welcomed in every area of the Armed Forces. Emma has upheld the covenant for hundreds of veterans affected by this positive change. Her hard work encouraged the MoD to return medals to hundreds of people who had lived under the shadow of being dismissed in disgrace.
Emma Norton said:
“Thank you I am completely overwhelmed! My trustees are going to be so delighted! We were set up to provide advice and support to those in the Armed Forces community who have suffered serious wrongs. That might be LGBT+ veterans, women who have suffered sexual harassment or worse, victims of race discrimination, bereaved military families, and we provide legal advice, signposting and therapeutic support for them.”
Previous Winner:
2020 – Leona Barr-Jones
2019 – Susan Coleman
