Annual Leadership Awards

Celebrating leadership, impact and excellence across Northern Ireland’s VCSE sector.

 CO3 Leadership Awards

Celebrating leadership, impact and excellence across Northern Ireland’s VCSE sector.

About the awards

The CO3 Leadership Awards is a fundraising event that takes place annually to recognise and celebrate outstanding leadership within Northern Ireland’s voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.

Each year, we bring together sector leaders, partners and supporters to acknowledge the people and organisations driving positive change — often in challenging and complex environments.

The awards are designed not only to recognise achievement, but to elevate the visibility of the sector and the vital role it plays in society.

How the awards work

Nominations are opened annually across a range of categories reflecting different areas of leadership and impact.

Submissions are reviewed by an independent panel of judges, and winners and highly commended recipients are selected based on clear criteria and scoring.

The process ensures fairness, transparency and recognition of genuine impact across the sector.

Previous winners

We are proud to recognise the individuals and organisations who have been honoured through the CO3 Leadership Awards.

Explore previous winners across each category below.

2026’s Winners

Anne-Marie McClure

Lifetime Achievement

Renee Quinn

Inspiring Leader of the Year

Emma Shaw

Emerging Leader

Charmain Jones

Leading Community Relations

Eamonn McNally

Mentor of the Year

Richard Spratt

Leading Collaboration and Partnership

Emma McGinnity

Leading Workplace Wellbeing

Declan McKillop

Leading a Social Enterprise

Pat McClelland

Leading Healthcare

Ken Brundle

Trustee of the Year

Received by a colleague

Teresa Canavan

Leading a Small Organisation

Marion Kerr

Leading Volunteering

Louise Coyle

Leading Policy and Communications

Diane Davis

Leading Diversity and Inclusion

Received by a colleague

2025’s Winners

Paddy Kelly

Lifetime Achievement

Imelda McGucken

Inspiring Leader of the Year

Received by a colleague

Michael Nugent

Emerging Leader

John Noble

Trustee of the Year

Sara McCracken

Mentor of the Year

Patricia Cathcart

Leading Healthcare

Lynn Carvill

Collaboration and Partnership

Natalie Duncan

Leading Workplace Wellbeing

Ellen Finlay

Leading a Social Enterprise

Liza Wilkinson

Leading Community Relations

Robert Gardiner

Leading a Small Organisation

Siobhan Rocks

Leading Volunteering

Linda Rodgers

Leading Policy & Communications

Sharon Didrichsen

Leading Diversity & Inclusion

Event Highlights

From powerful speakers to well-deserved celebrations, the awards ceremony is a moment to come together as a sector.

Explore photos from previous events and relive the highlights.

See full 2026 gallery

See full 2025 gallery

Stay Updated

Planning for the next CO3 Leadership Awards is underway.

Details on nominations, categories and event dates will be announced in advance.

To be the first to hear when entries open and tickets become available, follow us on social media.

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The CO3 Leadership Awards are more than a celebration. They are a recognition of the commitment, resilience and impact of leaders across our sector.

What Members Say About CO3

We’re delighted to get behind the financial resilience programme who, which will support a range of charity leaders from the small right through to the large, will really help give them the skills to be strong and be there for their communities for as long as they’re needed.

As a chief executive it is a very lonely job at times, particularly in small charities and Northern Ireland has got many small charities. So when you feel that loneliness or isolation, the one thing that CO3 brought was the ability to go and chat to somebody, whether it be a mentor or whether it be just another chief exec to bounce off.

Kate Fleck
Member of the Board, OCN NI

CO3 offer a wide range of courses for middle, middle managers, senior managers and chief executives within the third sector. Some of the programmes include the Leading Edge programme, there’s other leadership programmes available and then they also offer some micro learning sessions around how to present things like finances to your board of directors, reviewing your governance structure within the organisation and they would bring in some expert facilitators to deliver those sessions as well.

Martin Flynn
CEO, OCN NI

We’re delighted to get behind the financial resilience programme who, which will support a range of charity leaders from the small right through to the large, will really help give them the skills to be strong and be there for their communities for as long as they’re needed.

As a chief executive it is a very lonely job at times, particularly in small charities and Northern Ireland has got many small charities. So when you feel that loneliness or isolation, the one thing that Co Three brought was the ability to go and chat to somebody, whether it be a mentor or whether it be just another chief exec to bounce off.

Kate Fleck
Member of the Board, OCN NI

“CO3 is always a great network for support, for encouragement, for advice, answers to tricky questions when you're really, really stuck. Overall, it's been a fantastic network of colleagues who are always there for guidance and encouragement whenever things are really tough.”

Karen Collins
Chief Executive, Aware NI

“It is so valuable having other people who are in a similar position that you can network with, you can share problems with, you can ask advice. And so my whole career, CO3 has been really, really important to me in providing those things.”

Roger Courtney
Founder & Director, Roger Courtney Consulting

“I think for me the CO3 is a safe space just to have a chat, to make connections and also to learn from other people who are in a similar position in their career as you are.”

Lisa Keys
Chief Executive, Northern Ireland Boys’ Brigade