Clive Mason, a Teaching Fellow in the Centre for Deaf Studies, has won Teacher of the Year for the South West region in the 2012 Signature Annual Awards. The awards recognise individuals whose dedicated efforts help to overcome the communication barriers that Deaf people encounter in everyday life.

Clive won the award for high-quality teaching in British Sign Language (BSL) for his work on the BSc in Deaf Studies and on external signature qualifications up to Level 6 NVQ Certificate.

'I am humbled to receive this award, the timing of which is especially poignant as my teaching on the undergraduate programme has now come to an end,' said Clive. 'It is a wonderful honour to be recognised in this way and it means a great deal to me. I accept it and extend it to my colleagues for all their support.'

Clive’s work has been recognised in other areas – earlier this year he won a public image award at the British Deaf Association BSL symposium. He is a Deaf presenter on BBC See Hear, and recently toured the UK interpreting the most recent Harry Potter film to ensure that it was accessible for Deaf people in their preferred language. Clive was instrumental in the delivery of the first ever Diploma in BSL Translation and is among the first cohort of Deaf professionals to become registered as a sign language translator in the UK.

More information about Clive’s work is available on the signature website.