Winning a CIEH Excellence Award is a prestigious mark of excellence. This year’s winners represent the very best in environmental health, showcasing outstanding projects, innovation and impact across the profession.

Our 2026 CIEH Excellence Awards winners

The North East Regional Food Allergy Group

Outstanding Team Award

WINNER
The North East Regional Food Allergy Group


The North East Regional Food Allergy Group is a high-impact local authority partnership working to reduce food allergy–related harm and fatalities. Bringing together environmental health professionals from 12 councils, alongside NHS partners and industry, the group delivers a coordinated, preventative approach. Through intelligence sharing, aligned enforcement and consistent messaging, it has improved compliance, strengthened awareness and embedded a culture of prevention. Its innovative, collaborative model has transformed regional practice and provides a scalable blueprint for protecting communities and reducing risks nationwide.

Winning this award recognises the Group's collaboration and achievement in reducing food allergy harm.
The North East Regional Food Allergy Group

Excellent evidence-based approach with clear strategy and approach developed via regional partnership. This work stands out for its clear identification of a gap in reporting around allergens and upstream work to create better data and evidence around this.
Judge's comment

Milly Strong

Rising Star Award

WINNER
Milly Strong


Milly joined Wiltshire Council’s Environmental Protection team as a Public Protection Officer in 2024, following several years working in environmental policy in New Zealand and the UK. She focuses on air quality, leading the council’s programme to establish the Wiltshire Community Air Network, a citizen science project that expands local air pollution monitoring and community engagement. Alongside her role, she is completing a part-time MSc in Environmental Health at the University of the West of England. She lives in Somerset and balances her environmental health career with family life as a mum to a five‑year‑old.

I’m really pleased to receive the Rising Star award and see it as recognition of the fantastic work happening across a very supportive and committed team.
Milly Strong

Milly’s nomination highlighted her dedication to the profession and willingness not only to start with an ambitious citizen science project but to drive it forward. The determination and range of skills she demonstrated to ensure that this project was successful indicates that she has the capacity to bring about positive change for both her own local area and the wider profession.
Judge's comment

Jenna Brown

Hero Award

WINNER
Jenna Brown


Jenna is an Environmental Health Officer, mum of two and founder of The Food Safety Mum. With more than 14 years' experience in food safety and public health, she is passionate about helping families feel confident handling food safely at home. Inspired by her own experience of motherhood, Jenna created The Food Safety Mum to make food safety simple, relatable and practical for everyday life. Through her social media platforms, she shares evidence-based advice on topics such as freezing, defrosting, reheating and storing food safely, while also helping families reduce food waste and save money. Her mission is simple: to make food safety accessible, achievable and relevant to everyone.

I’m absolutely delighted to receive this award! Food safety has always been my passion, but becoming a mum inspired me to share that passion with families as The Food Safety Mum. To have that work recognised by the CIEH with an Environmental Health Hero Award is a real honour and something I’m incredibly proud of.
Jenna Brown

This entry stood out for its innovative and highly effective approach to a significant public health challenge. It addresses a clear and under-recognised gap in household food safety, delivering relatable and engaging content through modern social media platforms.
Judge's comment

Julian Preece

Leading Innovation Award

WINNER
Julian Preece


Julian has over 35 years’ experience in environmental health and housing. Throughout his career he has led housing standards, enforcement, adaptations, regeneration, additional HMO licensing and energy efficiency initiatives. He has developed bespoke and innovative approaches to address strategic housing renewal, including tackling empty homes through sustainable interest-free revolving loans. As Housing Policy, Performance and Standards Manager at Powys County Council, Julian has recently developed the award-winning Warm Powys Scheme. This involved collaboration between seven partner organisations to deliver warmer homes, lower carbon emissions and achieved improved outcomes for residents and communities across Powys.

I am incredibly proud that Warm Powys has been recognised with the CIEH Leading Innovation Award. Facilitating transformational home energy improvement while delivering improved health, wellbeing and environmental outcomes across communities - achieved through synergistic collaborative working between seven dedicated partner organisations, expert in their respective fields.
Julian Preece

Warm Powys was a standout, evidence‑driven innovative project that redefines how energy funding delivers real public health outcomes. By placing residents first, it transforms support for rural, hard‑to‑heat homes into a trusted, whole‑house retrofit service for those most in need especially the vulnerable and fuel‑poor households.
Judge's comment

How CIEH recognises its award winners

Winning a CIEH Award is a powerful mark of excellence, showcasing leadership, creativity and impact across the environmental health profession. Each winner receives:

  • A prestigious CIEH Award, presented at the ceremony to recognise outstanding achievement and contribution.
  • Travel and expenses covered, enabling winners to attend the event and collect their award - plus a professional photograph.
  • National recognition, with promotion across CIEH digital channels including the website, newsletters and social media.
  • Opportunities to inspire others, including invitations for selected winners to share their work at future events.
  • A dedicated winner profile in EHN magazine, professionally written to highlight your work and raise your visibility.
  • Enhanced professional visibility, supporting your reputation with leaders, partners and organisations shaping the future of environmental health.