Judges 2024

Anna graduated from Leeds University with a BA(Hons) in Politics and Parliamentary Studies and has worked in the US House of Representatives and in Parliament, running General and Local Election campaigns as well as a Shadow Minister’s office.

She now runs a public affairs agency, specialising in representing membership bodies and trade associations.  She builds informed relationships between clients and key decisions-makers in the Commons and the Lords and provides strategic advice to execute campaigns over many parliamentary sessions, as well as organising events within the Palace of Westminster and across the UK.

She also volunteers for APS UK, establishing and fundraising for a research fellowship at St Thomas’ Hospital.

Carl Thomson is Public Policy Manager at Airbnb and a board member of the Short Term Accommodation Association.

Previously, he was a director at Whitehouse Communications and Interel, and an Associate Partner at Dentons Global Advisors. He also worked for several Conservative Members of Parliament, was a local councillor and a former candidate for parliament. He was a member of the Association of Professional Political Consultants management committee, and won Best Crisis and Issues Management at the 2021 PRCA National Awards.

Claire Bass is Senior Director of Campaigns and Public Affairs at Humane Society International/UK and has been working in the animal protection movement for two decades, with recent significant involvement in the successful passage of the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act. Claire is the chair of the Animal Welfare Strategy Group in a UK NGO umbrella body (Wildlife and Countryside Link) and is a lead author and strategist on a joint third sector campaign to government to secure the best possible deal for animals in the course of the UK’s exit from the European Union. Claire holds an MSc in Marine Environmental Protection from the University of Wales and in her previous role as Head of Wildlife Campaigns at World Animal Protection she was responsible for the concept, strategic planning, and launch of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, a collaboration that now has membership of 18 governments and more than 100 businesses and NGOs.

With over 25 years of experience in politics and public affairs, David has provided support to over 100 international blue chip companies, trade associations, and professional bodies during his time in consultancy.

Brevia Consulting provides straightforward public affairs and public relations support to organisations in a range of sectors including health, energy, technology, industrials, transport, infrastructure, civil nuclear, and not-for-profit.  Prior to entering Consultancy, David was a senior political adviser to the Conservative Party and worked with eight Secretaries of State on a range of policy briefs.

Lizzy is Head of UK Public Affairs at H/Advisors Cicero, working predominantly with financial services clients. She has widespread agency experience, assisting several FTSE250 clients on legislative affairs, financial services policy and consumer policy. Her clients have included Barclays UK, American Express, Klarna, Santander UK and AXA UK. As part of the H/Advisors Exchange Programme, Lizzy spent four weeks in Washington D.C. with H/Advisors Abernathy working on U.S. Public Affairs and building relationships across the pond.

Lizzy started her career working for two Liberal Democrat MPs – Paul Burstow MP and Adrian Sanders MP – in Westminster during the Coalition Government. Prior to joining H/Advisors Cicero, Lizzy worked for a political consultancy firm specialising in local government and planning. Here she worked on various planning applications across the UK on behalf of large-scale residential developers, whilst circumnavigating local politics.

Hannah Swirsky is the Public Affairs Manager at Samaritans, the UK and Ireland’s largest suicide prevention charity, managing parliamentary influencing and engagement. Hannah previously worked as a Parliamentary Assistant to a Labour MP, as well as for organisations campaigning on issues including women’s political participation, human rights and mental health.

Jack Cousens is head of roads policy at The AA.

Jack has been with the AA since 2012 and is responsible for the AA’s motoring policy, government relations and public affairs campaigns. With over a decade of experience in political and public policy campaigns, Jack is frequently seen in the press talking about issues that affect road users including; road safety, electric cars, charging infrastructure, potholes and smart motorways.

Jess Lister is an Associate Director at policy and strategy consultancy Public First, focusing primarily on education policy both nationally and internationally. Since joining the education practice at Public First in 2021, she has worked with some of the biggest names in the education sector and established a reputation for creating public affairs strategies that combine sharp policy analysis, political awareness, and public opinion.

She was previously public affairs coordinator at the University of Cambridge, and helped the university navigate the small matter of Brexit, a general election, and a global pandemic.

Jess has over 15 years’ experience of working in policy, campaigns and public affairs in the charity sector, covering health, disability and education at both local and national level.

She is currently Head of Public Affairs and Campaigns at the baby loss charity Sands and along with her team recently won the 2023 Amplifying Voices Award at the Sheila McKechnie National Campaigner Awards for work to secure a confidential enquiry into the deaths of Asian and Asian British babies.

Jess is passionate about collaborating for social change and empowering people to get involved in policy decisions that affect them.

Laura is Deputy Managing Director and Partner at WA Communications.

Laura leads the marketing communications offer at WA, with a track record of building corporate affairs consultancy teams that develop highly targeted multi-channel stakeholder corporate affairs campaigns that mobilise the right audiences and secure client outcomes.

With more than a decade of consultancy experience, she has led public affairs and marketing communications work across a wide range of sectors including tech, energy, rail, aviation, and private health. Her client experience includes working with Microsoft on its AI and online safety campaigns; supporting Drax in its campaign to secure BECCS in the Humber; supporting EDF to gain consent for Sizewell C; and with Heathrow to win support for expansion.

She also played a leading role in the Conservative Party’s successful 2019 digital strategy, and previously worked in the Party’s press office. She is a passionate advocate for women across the industry, and currently sits on the Women in Public Affairs Advisory Committee. In her spare time, she likes to watch her beloved Arsenal FC at the Emirates Stadium and run around Highbury Fields when the weather allows!

Liam Hebert is a Director at Rud Pedersen’s London office, counselling a broad spectrum of UK and international clients.

With over 30 years’ experience in strategic communications across a diverse range of corporate sectors, he brings deep expertise in reputation management, media relations and political communications with a particular emphasis on contentious matters: crisis, issues and litigation.

A former Director of a City communications agency, and political strategist, Martha is a founding partner of Lodestone and its Managing Director.

She advises global clients on strategic communications, campaigns, public affairs and strategy. She has advised FTSE250 companies, brands and charities on critical political issues, regulatory challenges and reputational management. She had led high profile campaigns for the Musician’s Union and the Bourbon Alliance. Listed in PR Week’s 30 under 30 2016, in PRWeek’s Powerbook 2023 as an environmental champion, she is a Trustee of the Institute of the Future of Work and co-founded the grassroots organisation RegistHERtoVote. She has advised a number of political campaigns and headed up communications for Labour Party leadership candidates in 2015 (Tom Watson MP) and 2020 (Lisa Nandy MP).

Noa Cohen is UK Public Affairs Manager at General Mills, a multinational food manufacturer. Prior to going corporate, she worked at the CBI and Advertising Association. She is also Public Affairs Director at Next Gen Tories, a campaign organisation focused on promoting policy priorities for the under-45s within the Conservative Party. Noa has an MA in Politics from the University of Edinburgh.

Paul is a Director at Tendo Consulting, where he leads on aviation, road transport, housing and infrastructure. He began his career in Parliament working for a senior frontbencher and has also worked for The FA and led the strategy and public affairs team at a major housing provider.

Ruby is an experienced young professional who has until recently worked for the Railway Industry Association (RIA). In this time Ruby held the role of Public Affairs and PR Executive and was responsible for RIA’s outfacing communications, representing members’ interests to government officials and liaising with politicians.

Ruby is a local councillor in the London Borough of Enfield, where she sits on the Education and Children’s Social Care committee and the Equalities committees.

Sam is the CEO and co-founder of PoliMonitor a political monitoring and engagement service enabling organisations to better understand and engage in politics.

Previously, Sam was an adviser to Tim Farron MP, Private Secretary to Lord Adonis and assisted Prime Minister Gordon Brown with digital communications at 10 Downing Street.

Shomik is the Founder and CEO of Inline Policy, a political consultancy that advises technology companies from its offices in London, Brussels and Washington D.C.

Since 2017 he has also served as the Director-General of the UK Short-Term Accommodation Association where he advises on public affairs matters and represents the Association in front of policymakers. He has represented the Association in government working groups and Parliamentary hearings in England, Scotland and Wales; and he sits on the UK Tourism Industry Council, which is steered by the UK’s Tourism Minister.

Shomik previously worked at Blackrock and JPMorgan. He holds a BSc in Economic History from the London School of Economics, an MA in Political Science from Columbia University, and an MBA from INSEAD.

Stephanie is a Director at Lexington, leading their Labour practice she has over a decade of experience advising senior politicians, business leaders and charities on communications strategy and politics. Stephanie provides senior strategic advice and counsel to some of the consultancy’s biggest clients on securing policy change, managing risks, and navigating political turbulence.  Before joining Lexington, Stephanie was the Director of Progress, a leading think-tank and campaigning organisation for Labour members where she worked with leading Labour politicians to secure political change within the Labour Party.

Stuart has over 25 years’ experience of advising clients on public affairs and reputation management.  He is the author of books including ‘Public Affairs in Practice’ and ‘Reputation in Business’, regularly blogs and was named Current Affairs Online Influencer of The Year by Vuelio in 2020.

Stuart leads the PRCA’s Diploma in Public Affairs Management.

Tim has over a decade’s worth of experience in policy and public affairs. He has been a trusted advisor to major companies and trade associations, specialising in sustainability, technology and public procurement. He has a track record of success in delivering public policy and fiscal change, directing high level campaigns, and advising decision makers on crises and sensitive corporate issues. Former clients have included Uber, Fujitsu, Hitachi, ABB, Stena Line, National Grid, International Game Technology, Calor and Callsign, working on a range of issues from major public sector bids to tax, regulation and industrial policy. Prior to joining the public affairs industry,

Tim worked in high-profile areas of government, ranging from international climate change negotiations to business policy. Tim graduated in Law from Oxford University and holds a master’s degree in Public Policy.

Tom joined WWT in October 2018 as Head of Policy & Advocacy.

He leads the Trust’s policy and advocacy on key wetland-related issues with a wide range of stakeholders including Government, politicians, businesses and wider civil society. This includes WWT’s calls for a Blue Recovery, creating 100,000ha of wildlife-rich wetlands to help address the climate, biodiversity and wellbeing crises.

Before joining WWT, Tom worked in policy and public affairs roles at the Canal & River Trust, Ramblers and RSPB. He has also worked at Defra and for MPs in Parliament.

Fiona is Head of Public Affairs at Royal Mail, a FTSE250 undergoing substantial change where government affairs is key to solving problems and managing change. Here, Fiona leads across a number of policy areas (including trade, transport and the environment; employment and pensions; tax and corporate governance; data and technology) while working with colleagues in internal and external communications to develop integrated corporate affairs campaigns. Fiona has considerable experience working for businesses in London and Brussels for over 15 years, delivering on UK and EU public affairs priorities in the food/drink and transport/logistics sectors.