For details on the Airwave Police Professional 2008 Award WINNERS and finalists click on Sponsors ...

The Airwave Police Professional Awards will recognise and reward exceptional leadership creating sustainable policing development.

Nominations are open to anyone who has made a significant contribution to their organisation, key partnerships or the community they serve. Not only will the awards acknowledge the achievements of nominees, they will also highlight and help spread successful practice and learning.

The awards are organised by the publisher of Police Professional, Clarity Publishing, in association with the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), the Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland (ACPO), the Association of Chief Police Officers of Scotland (ACPOS), and the Association of Police Authorities (APA).

Nominations for the 2008 awards closing date is 31 July 2008 .

All stages of the awards process will be monitored and supported by a committee: Peter Neyroud, chief constable and chief executive, NPIA; Dr Marie Dickie, chair, HR Policy Group, APA; Ian Johnston, chief constable, British Transport Police, and chair, ACPO Crime Business Area; Andrew Cameron, chief constable, Central Scotland Police, and chair, ACPOS Personnel and Training Business Area; Cliff Dixon, retired deputy chief constable and senior police adviser (chair); and Paul Lander, managing editor of Police Professional.

The panel of judges, composed of senior, expert representatives from the respective category areas, will work within clear guidelines prepared by the working panel to ensure impartial, professional assessment of nominations. The judges include Airwave Police Professional Award Winners from 2007; Peter Holland and Peter Neyroud, NPIA; Professor Gloria Laycock, Jill Dando Institute; Dr Martin Innes, Police Science Institute; John Vine, Tayside Police; Ian Johnston, British Transport Police; Dr Bob Green, Police Standards Unit; Dr Julie Mennell, Northumbria University; David Williams, West Midlands Police; Bob Jones and Dr Marie Dickie, APA; Ken Jones, ACPO; and Julie Spence, Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

Presentation of the awards will take place at the Police Professional Awards Ceremony, in London, October 2008. Guests will include shortlisted nominees, high ranking police representatives from all UK forces, officials from the Home Office, government ministers and members from NPIA, ACPO, ACPOS, SOCA, SCDEA, APA, superintendents’ associations, police federations, and other national associations and agencies.

For all attendees, this event is black tie or dress uniform. If wearing dress uniform, it is with medals.

The emblem of the Airwave Police Professional Awards is the blue sapphire. The medium-deep cornflower blue is the most valued of all sapphires: it was used at the coronation of Edward the Confessor and Queen Victoria and, according to ancient belief, was the stone on which the whole earth rested.