The Awards are run by Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief, a charity-led initiative working to make Scotland a place where people help each other through the difficult times that can come with death, dying, loss and care. The Awards Shortlist has been announced in the run-up to Demystifying Death Week (1-7 May).

Good Grief Festival – a virtual festival of love and loss - has reached over 26,000 people since its launch in 2020. Speakers and participants have come from all walks of life, including academia, journalism, medicine, sport, politics and the arts, united in sharing their knowledge and experiences of grief.

The Festival has its own YouTube channel, The Grief Channel, which features over 120 talks from Good Grief festivals and events, with familiar faces like Julia Samuel, Cariad Lloyd, David Kessler, Michael Rosen, Nikesh Shukla, Ruby Wax, Stuart Lawrence, Dr Kathryn Mannix, Dr Rachel Clarke, Amber Jeffrey and Professor Robert Neimeyer.

The Festival now runs a rolling programme of mini-festivals on specific topics throughout the year. Upcoming events include: ‘How to have life changing conversations … about the end of life’ with Dr Kathryn Mannix and Julia Samuel MBE (3 May); and ‘In the end, it was all about love’ with Musa Okwonga and Cathy Rentzenbrink (18 May).

The Good Grief Festival team is currently collaborating with Culture Weston and the Weston-super-Mare Community Network on its first in-person festival, Good Grief Weston, which is taking in place in Weston-super-Mare on 1-8 May.

Dr Selman said: “We are honoured to be short-listed for this award in recognition of our efforts to widen access to research and scholarship, increase knowledge about grief and bereavement, and provide space for people to reflect on and share their experiences. Good Grief has always been a collaborative endeavour and we would like to thank all our speakers and supporters as well as Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief for this nomination.”

Dr Lesel Dawson, Good Grief Festival Arts and Culture Lead and Associate Professor in Literature and Culture in the Department of English, University of Bristol, said:: “I love being part of the Good Grief community! It’s been a huge privilege to work with wonderful artists, therapists and researchers on projects that aim to build a more open and compassionate society."

Rebecca Patterson, Director of Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief said: "Lots of people are dedicated to improving experiences of ill health, dying and bereavement in Scotland. Often, work is done behind the scenes, over a period of many years, with gradual impact. We really wanted to draw attention to some of this work, that often goes under the radar, but which is gradually changing culture and experiences of death, dying and bereavement in Scotland.

"There are six categories of awards, aiming to encompass the huge variety of contexts where people are making a difference: from people taking action to build more supportive communities, to those working to encourage forward-planning for declining health, to action being taken at a policy level to encourage system-wide change. We particularly wanted to recognise creative or innovative activities, and those working to increase understanding of death and dying among the general public."

Awards shortlist

See the full Awards shortlist on the Demystifying Death website.

Blog series

You can read blogs by all the shortlisted candidates here: Demystifying Death Awards Blog, including the Good Grief Festival blog.

Winners

The winners will be announced during Demystifying Death Week, 1-7 May.