Anastasia Kavada co-hosts SMK National Campaigner Awards at Westminster

Dr Anastasia Kavada co-hosted the Sheila McKechnie Foundation National Campaigner of the Year Awards at the University of Westminster on 11 June, bringing one of the most significant events in British campaigning to the University for the evening.

Kavada also sat on the judging panel for the 2026 awards, having been invited earlier in the year. She described the judging as an interesting afternoon of thoughtful discussion about the impact of campaigning. The foundation’s awards recognise individuals and campaigns that have delivered meaningful social change for public benefit, with particular attention to campaigners who take on large organisations and entrenched power. The ceremony was recorded live at Westminster and remains available to watch.

Among the winners, the Campaigner of the Year award went to the young woman, who remains anonymous, who helped change the law on deepfake pornography in Britain after becoming a victim of it herself. The Campaign of the Year award went to the coalition campaign to scrap the two-child limit on benefits, led with the End Child Poverty Coalition, Action for Children and UNICEF UK.

Kavada leads the MA in Media, Campaigning and Social Change at Westminster, and her research examines the links between digital media, social movements and participatory democracy.

Find out more: https://smk.org.uk/what-we-do/connect/awards/

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash