Massive congratulations to a group of people we support who have today won a prestigious national award!
Well done to Gina, Jake, Ken, Liam, Mike, Steven, and Tyler – the members of the Unlocking Excellence Group at Autism Together – who were named winners in the Dimensions Leaders’ Awards 2026!
Jake and Liam from the group spent the day in Bristol enjoying the awards event, before picking up their prize on behalf of the rest of the team.
About the Leaders’ Awards
The Leaders’ Awards honour the invaluable contributions of people with learning disabilities and autistic people across the UK. The awards themselves are guided and judged by previous winners.
The event itself kicked off at midday with a welcome speech and an introductory session of bingo with prizes to be won! Then there was a lunch with a chance to meet other guests, before hearing from the Keynote Speaker, Jonathan Andrew, Mayor of Bromley – a former Leaders’ Awards winner himself!
The Unlocking Excellence Group won as part of the Advocacy, Policy and Media Awards section – celebrating voices creating change through campaigning, representation, media and advocacy! Jake and Liam were understandably thrilled to go up and collect their awards on behalf of their friends and colleagues from the group.
As part of the Awards Event, the group from Autism Together were celebrated through articles in the event brochure, website, social media, and giant exhibition boards. The lads decided they would like to take the full-size boards back with them as a memento! Hope you managed to squeeze them on the train home, guys!!
About the group’s work
The team from Autism Together came together over a year ago to form the Unlocking Excellence group. The group consists of autistic adults and people with learning disabilities supported by Autism Together.
They are working with the NHS and researchers from CANDDID, co-producing and co-researching a major NHS research study – Unlocking Excellence – which is focused on improving community-based mental health support for people with learning disabilities and autistic people. Earlier this year, as part of the study, they gave a presentation to a class of 40 psychology students at the University of Manchester.
Following their fantastic Leaders Awards win, the Unlocking Excellence Group met up with members of CANDDID to enjoy a celebratory lunch, pick up their medals, and pose with the trophy!
Their awards win is the latest recognition for the group, coming after their success in April’s STAR Awards and them being named finalists in the National Autism & Learning Disabilities Awards 2026.
Well done to all involved.
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