Entries invited for ?50,000 Ockenden International prize for work with displaced people and refugees

UK-registered charities are invited to apply for the Ockenden International Prize, worth £50,000.

Launched this year, with a deadline for entries of 31st July 2012, the Prize seeks to recognise and reward work that has improved the lives of refugees and displaced people in Africa, the Middle East or Asia. Ockenden International welcomes, in particular, projects that help people through self-reliance, the hallmark of the charity since it began its pioneering work in 1951.

During the Prize’s inaugural year, submissions are invited from charities registered in the United Kingdom, though they can elect to nominate a project by a partner or affiliate organisation based abroad, rather than their own direct work, if they wish.  Projects need to have been initiated no earlier than May 2009 and have evidence of properly measured and evaluated outcomes. The deadline for receipt of submissions is midnight (London time) on Tuesday, 31st July 2012.

The objectives of the award include highlighting the challenges faced by refugees and displaced people, raising awareness of needs and how they can be met, and providing reward and recognition for those giving inspirational support. The winner and shortlisted contenders will be honoured at a ceremony in Oxford on 19th February 2013. 

In addition to the cash prize of £50,000, Ockenden International also aims to develop additional forms of support and recognition for worthy projects identified by the judges. These underscore its new focus on reinforcing the work of others helping refugees and displaced people, rather than directly running programmes.

BBC journalist and news presenter Michael Buerk announced the creation of the Prize while addressing an audience gathered at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, in February this year to celebrate another Ockenden International initiative: the creation of a junior research fellowship studying refugees and forced migration. He has agreed to chair the panel of judges who will assess entries for the Prize.

More information about the Prize and eligibility criteria can be found on Ockenden International’s website - http://www.ockenden.org.uk/

Note for editors:

Ockenden International’s roots lie in the work of three British schoolteachers, led by Joyce Pearce, who created the Ockenden Venture in 1951.  Their aim was to receive in Britain young East Europeans from homeless persons’ camps in Germany and to provide for their maintenance, education and welfare. This work later extended to projects in India, North Africa and south-east Asia.  The venture’s expertise and skills in helping people help themselves was so well recognised by 1979 that the British government asked Ockenden to be one of the three charities tasked with helping Vietnamese ‘boat people’ resettle in the United Kingdom.

After the death of Joyce Pearce, the driving visionary of the organisation, in 1985, the charity took stock of its work and by 1999, as Ockenden International, was mainly involved in projects overseas . In 2007 the trustees decided that continuing to be an operational charity was no longer sustainable and that it could work more effectively by becoming a grant-maker and promoting awareness of the challenges facing refugees and displaced people.

Contact for media queries: 

Stephen Claypole, trustee, Ockenden International

SClaypole@dma-media.com

+ 44 (0) 208 563 1718

NGO queries in first instance to: ockenden@writestrategy.co.uk