Two hundred applications, nine categories, the Excellence in Participation Awards 2014 celebrate the outstanding achievements made by those who go out of their way to make positive changes to health and social care.

Hosted by TV presenter, June Sarpong, the presentation ceremony will take place on Monday 3 March at 6PM as part of NHS Expo 2014. Following a drinks reception, the judges will announce the winners in nine different categories.

The purpose of the awards is to applaud best practice by those who are transforming people’s lives, improving services and putting patients, carers and communities first.

Categories cover a range of outstanding contributions made by individual patients, volunteers and frontline health and care staff, through to organisations based in the community and those which commission and provide health and care services. Competition has been tough and the shortlist represents many of the extraordinary transformations accomplished by those who seek to deliver new and imaginative solutions to putting people at the heart of their NHS.

The ‘Calmness Project’ is just one of the exceptional entries to be shortlisted in the ‘Public Participation’ category. Pioneered by North Bristol’s Trust and Barnados, a series of art workshops were delivered in primary and secondary schools to help young people tackle anxiety and depression.

Ensuring people’s views are heard at all levels is central to the awards. NHS Nottingham West Clinical Commissioning Group set up ‘The Patient Reference Group’ designed to represent the views of 94,000 people living in the area.

Engaging community volunteers is another key area where the NHS has teamed up with local partners. NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group is signing up and training local “ambassadors” to help people find the services they need and feed their views on what they want from their local NHS.

In the running for the individual provider reward, the H Team – a group of people with learning disabilities – wanted to help their peers overcome difficulties accessing services. The group runs training sessions for people with learning disabilities and healthcare professionals.

With such a glittering short-list, the event will be an excellent opportunity to network and share ideas.

Taking the spirit of the awards forward, NHS England will work with all those who have been shortlisted for awards to host events around the country to enable others to learn from these examples of excellence.

For more information on Innovation Expo 2014 go to: www.expo.nhs.uk and follow all the news as it happens on Twitter @NHSExpo #Expo14NHS