The Loose Women Lighten The Load Hero Award!
LOOSE WOMEN LIGHTEN THE LOAD HERO AWARD
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS NOMINATED THEIR LIGHTEN THE LOAD HERO! NOMINATIONS HAVE NOW CLOSED. ANY NOMINATIONS MADE AFTER WEDNESDAY 16 AUGUST 2017 WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR THE SHORTLIST.
Loose Women and the mental health charity Mind have come together to launch a special award which will recognise the everyday heroes who support those of us living with mental health problems.
The Loose Women Lighten The Load Hero award will honour someone who has gone to extraordinary lengths to be there for a loved one, friend or colleague living a with a mental health problem.
It might be in recognition of a moment of inspirational kindness, starting the conversation which motivated someone to seek professional help or it could reward all the small things that they do to support a Loose Women viewer through their mental health problems.
So if YOU have experienced mental health issues and been helped and supported by someone you'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to this is your chance!
The award was inspired by Loose Women’s Lighten The Load campaign, which encourages viewers to talk and listen when experiencing mental health issues. Talking if you’ve been affected, or being there to listen to someone who is going through a period of stress.
The campaign was launched in 2016 and was instrumental in Loose Women winning a Mind Media Award last year. We now want to shine a spotlight on the people who are putting the principles of Loose Women’s Lighten The Load campaign into action every day.
The Lighten The Load Hero prize will be presented at this year’s Mind Media Awards at the ODEON Leicester Square London on Monday 13 November. The awards celebrate the best reporting and portrayals of mental health in print, broadcast, film and digital media as well as honouring people that are making a difference by speaking out about their mental health experiences.
The winner will also receive £500 and enjoy an overnight stay in London with the person who nominated them - with a guest each - to attend the awards. You MUST be available to attend the Mind Media Awards on 13 November 2017 and Loose Women at ITV on 14 November 2017.
How to enter
You must detail in up to 300 words who you are nominating, how they helped YOU through your mental health issues and why you think they deserve to be recognised as our Lighten The Load Hero.
Please include your full name, age and contact details as well as those of your nominee. You must have prior consent from your hero before you nominate them and confirm this on your email entry. We reserve the right to check that you have consent from anyone mentioned in your nomination and to disregard your entry if this is not the case.
Email your nomination to Loose.Women@itv.com with 'Lighten The Load Hero' clearly stated in the subject line.
Please submit your entry by 10.30am on Wednesday 16 August 2017.
All nominations will be handled in accordance with ITV's privacy policy which is available at www.itv.com/privacy.
Winners will be chosen by a judging panel made up of representatives from Loose Women, Mind and an independent judge.
T&Cs APPLY - please read them carefully before you nominate your hero by clicking here.
The Loose Women Lighten the Load Hero award will be presented at this year’s Mind Media Awards at the ODEON Leicester Square on Monday 13 November.
Loose Women editor Sally Shelford says: ‘We’re thrilled to join forces with Mind to create a very special award at this year’s Mind Media Awards.
One in four of us will experience some form of mental health issue in any given year. When we launched our Lighten The Load campaign in 2016 many of our presenters opened up about their own mental health struggles: Andrea McLean talked about her experience of post-natal depression while Nadia Sawalha talked frankly about attending Overeaters Anonymous and supporting her husband Mark who experiences depression.
Our Lighten The Load campaign is all about talking and listening and we were overwhelmed and humbled by the response of Loose Women viewers sharing their own experiences.
The Loose Women Lighten The Load Hero Award is the perfect opportunity to say thank you to the person who went out of their way to listen and support a viewer living with a mental health issue.’
We look forward to reading your incredible stories!