Celebrating exceptional leadership
We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Leadership Live 2026 Awards.
The awards celebrate the individuals and organisations making a real difference through outstanding leadership, recognising those who are driving innovation, creating impact and demonstrating excellence in their fields.
This year’s nominations showcased an exceptional breadth of leadership, and our congratulations go to everyone who put themselves or someone they admire forward.
Meet the 2026 shortlist
We are proud to introduce the individuals and organisations shortlisted for this year’s Leadership Live Awards.
Supporting Young Leaders Award
| Recognising an organisation that is making a meaningful investment in the next generation of leaders, creating opportunities, developing talent and empowering young people to thrive. |
| Malvern Business Academy Ltd, Calling all Care Leavers, NEETS and Youth Offenders |
| Social Agility, Starting Leadership Early: Young People Learning From Young People |
| Ignite Your Inner Potential Ltd, Committed to Creating Future Leaders |
| Milford Research and Consultancy Ltd |
| TiME - Technology in Music Education UK, Contemporary Music Leaders Programme |
| Loughborough College |
| Fearless Youth Association Limited, From Lived Experience to Leadership: Fearless Young Women Leading Change |
| The Oxford IQ Academy, Forging Global Youth Leaders through the Oxbridge Tutorial Model |
| Woldingham School |
| Aspire Media N.I. CIC, Robert Campbell |
Innovation with Impact Award
| Celebrating an organisation that is turning innovative ideas into meaningful results, demonstrating how new approaches can create lasting impact for people, organisations or communities. |
| Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group |
| University College London |
| Dallam School with Leader-Connect |
| YourParkingSpace |
| ADNIC |
| The Foundry Ltd. |
| Avant Consultancy Ltd |
| Hertfordshire County Council |
| Ahqenza |
| Escentia |
Most innovative Institute Approved Programme
| Recognising an outstanding IA programme that demonstrates creativity, fresh thinking and innovation, while delivering meaningful value and impact. |
| NOVA: Making Women’s Leadership Visible in Technology, Genos Europe |
| The Positive Leader Program, The Academe |
| Coaching skills for effective conversations, Deloitte in collaboration with MindTools |
| Future Talent Learning |
| Coaching For Change Professional Certificate, Leadership Psychology Institute |
| Future Leadership: Learning Beyond Organisational Boundaries, Social Agility |
| Ashorne Advantage Graduate Programme, Ashorne Hill |
| 12 Months to Remix Your Life: A Personalised Leadership and Life Transformation Programme, Life Remixed Ltd |
| Intelligent Influence: Reimagining Online Leadership Development for the Modern Leader, Ahqenza |
| The FIRST Leadership Ecosystem™ built for Neurodivergent FIRST, ZenBoss |
The Leadership Provider of the Year Award
| Celebrating an exceptional leadership development provider that is helping organisations and individuals build stronger, more effective leaders through outstanding programmes, expertise and support. |
| Genos Europe |
| Ivy House |
| Actors in Industry |
| Association Of College And The KWP Ltd |
| School Of Coding & AI |
| The Oxford IQ Academy |
| Ahqenza Leadership Academy |
| Leadership That Works in the Real World |
| Escentia |
| The Academe |
Leadership Excellence Award for Organisation
| Recognising outstanding leadership excellence and celebrating an individual or organisation that has demonstrated exceptional leadership, made a significant contribution and created positive change. |
| Exceed Learning Partnership - The Exceed Leadership Framework |
| The West Group Limited |
| Association Of College And The KWP Ltd |
| Currys |
| CulturaLinks Community CIC |
| Network Rail |
| Life Remixed |
| People's Voice Media |
| Heart of Worcestershire College Executive Leadership Team |
| School Of Coding & AI |
Emerging Young Leader Award for Individuals
| Celebrating an inspiring young leader who is already making a significant impact, demonstrating ambition, innovation and the potential to shape the future of leadership. |
| Ahmad Al-Hiari |
| Alister D'Souza |
| Ashvin Selvakannan |
| Shivam Soni-Sadar |
| Tara-Bella Halai |
| Hannah Walton |
| Maria Ahmad |
| Rory Berry |
| Christina Ong |
| Annie Cuckney |
Leadership Excellence Award for Individual
| Recognising an individual who demonstrates exceptional leadership, inspires others and has made a meaningful and lasting impact through their work. |
| Alexander Rhys, Leading Through Transition: Turning Around Institutions Without Losing Sight of People |
| Claire Cunniffe, CLAPA CEO |
| Karl Wood, Leadership Through Transformation, Governance and Professional Contribution |
| Louisa Clarke, From the Flight Line to the Boardroom: The Making of a Human-Centric Leader |
| Ben Hobbis, Serving Teacher & School Leader; Social Entrepreneur & Not-for-Profit Founder |
| Paul Boross, The Psychology of High-Impact Leadership |
| Laura Fisher, Growing Survivor Leadership, Sharing Power and Creating Choice |
| Vicky Bowskill, Inklusive Nature: Opening doors to ideas that matter. Drawing people into the conversation. |
| Goergie Mclntyre, Creating the Conditions for Others to Flourish |
| Ayesha Sheikh, Leadership that creates Leaders |
International Leader of the Year Award
| Celebrating an exceptional leader whose influence and achievements extend across borders, demonstrating outstanding leadership and creating meaningful impact on an international stage. |
| Dr Roger Achkar, Global Waste Cleaning Network (GWCN) |
| Charles Adaku, Kulika Uganda |
| Jérôme Prieur, Aurea Technology |
| Dr. Ayman Alkhadra, Dr. Sulaiman Alhabib Medical Group |
| Dr Max Caruso, Wuxi United International School |
| Kin Tung Wong, UCSI Schools Group |
| Joanna Povall, Wales International School |
| Maya Nanan, Autism Siblings and Friends Network |
| Selveena Parmanum, Mauritius Cane Industry Authority |
| Carla Matthews-Dottin, Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) |
Leadership Book of the Year Award
| Recognising an outstanding leadership book that offers valuable insight, challenges thinking and makes a meaningful contribution to the understanding and practice of leadership. |
| Beyond Words: How to Lead People from Survival to Success by Kerry-Lyn Stanton-Downes |
| Accountability Under Fire: How society is demanding more from business and what great leaders are doing about it by Kate Adams |
| Kind Leadership: Leading Schools with Empathy, Honesty and Impact by Joanna Povall |
| Lead with AI. Stay Human. How Modern Leaders Orchestrate Enterprise Value by Peter Whealy |
| One Step Forward Two Steps Black: Navigating Anti-Black Workplace Culture by Marcelle Moncrieffe-Newman |
| Faceplant: FREE yourself from failure's funk by Melisa Buie, Keeley Hurley and Noël Kreidler |
| Leading in Chaos by Nicholas Janni and Amy Elizabeth Fox |
| Forget Normal - I Want M.A.G.I.C. The 5 Rules of Leadership by Claire Brumby |
| The Regenerate Leap: How Leaders Transform Crisis into Enduring Growth by Stuart Green |
| Become A Global Leader by Victoria Rennoldson |
| The Institute of Leadership Advocate of Year Award |
| Shortlist to be announced soon! |
Congratulations to all our finalists
Being shortlisted for a Leadership Live Award is a significant achievement and recognises the contribution, influence and impact of leaders across our community.
To everyone who made this year’s shortlist: congratulations. We look forward to celebrating your achievements and finding out who will take home a Leadership Live Award in September.
We look forward to celebrating with you.
And the winners are…
The winners will be revealed at the Leadership Live 2026 Awards Ceremony on Tuesday 29 September 2026.
Join us for an evening celebrating the people and organisations shaping the future of leadership, hosted by Aaron Phipps MBE.
Book your place at Leadership Live 2026
