A college leader who has spent more than 30 years volunteering for mountain rescue and two students who raised thousands for mental health charities are among this year’s Good for Me Good for FE award winners. The fourth annual awards were announced at the Association of Colleges (AoC) conference on Tuesday. Twelve awards recognised students, staff and college teams for their volunteering, fundraising and community projects. Among the winners was Iain Nixon, a group executive principal at Education Partnership North East, who received the outstanding long-service award for volunteering. Nixon has volunteered with Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team for more than 30 years, serving as a search dog handler, duty controller and team leader. He has helped to coordinate searches for missing people and responses to severe weather, giving more than 800 hours of his time in the past year alone. The student fundraiser of the year award was shared by Archie Heywood from Wiltshire College & University Centre and Zakiyah Hanif Jones from Middlesbrough College. Heywood ran 5km every day for 100 days, despite never having completed a proper 5km run before, raising £2,040 for Samaritans. Jones brought her course together for a sponsored walk in memory of a close friend, raising more than £4,600 for suicide prevention charity Papyrus – the highest amount recorded for a social action project at her college. Inspirational role model This year’s awards also introduced the David Gallagher memorial award for inspirational role model of the year, honouring the late NCFE chief executive and founding supporter of Good for Me Good for FE, who died in July aged 45. The inaugural award went to Sarah Price from Activate Learning, who teaches A Levels alongside chairing the MindGreen charity and committee. Her work has inspired hundreds of staff and learners to support mental health and wellbeing through volunteering and fundraising, generating more than £40,000 and over 1,000 volunteering hours in 2025-26. Other individual winners included Richard Round from Dudley College, who received staff fundraiser of the year after completing a 300-mile London-to-Paris cycle ride for Myeloma UK, having been diagnosed with the condition himself in 2021. Mitch McShane from Belfast Met was named staff volunteer of the year for his inclusive football programme at Ards FC, which has grown from seven players to around 40. He volunteered approximately 600 hours and helped eight participants enrol at the college. Stoke-on-Trent College’s Kirstie-Ann Gray won student volunteer of the year after contributing more than 100 hours to community projects and campaigning for better support for young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Loughborough College student Jack Hulme received the student change maker excellence award after volunteering more than 500 hours, including delivering first-aid training and raising awareness of CPR. Nottingham College won student volunteering project of the year for a knife crime awareness campaign in which eight construction students wrote and recorded a track addressed to their younger selves. Among the college-wide winners, Coleg Cambria received the volunteering project award after students contributed 28,724 hours of community service, generating more than £222,000 in estimated social value. Accessible nursery in Malawi Blackburn College was named team or college fundraiser of the year after raising more than £16,800 to help build and equip an accessible nursery in Malawi, which has welcomed 50 children. USP College received the college change maker excellence award after students volunteered 6,890 hours across more than 100 events. The Bedford College Group won the community partnership award for its work with Bedford Giving, through which students helped to decide how £180,000 should be invested in projects for young people. Good for Me Good for FE was founded in 2021 by London South East Colleges, Loughborough College and East Coast College. It now brings together more than 160 colleges across the UK. Winners were announced by Elevare Civic Education Group chief executive Sam Parrett and AoC chief executive David Hughes. Parrett said: “I am incredibly proud to be part of this movement, and we want the FE sector to receive the recognition it deserves for its outstanding contribution to society. “Thank you to everyone who gives their time, energy and commitment to transforming lives every day.” The winners will be invited to a celebration at the House of Lords on 11 December, hosted by Lord Jo Johnson. Baroness Nicky Morgan is the awards patron. The awards are sponsored by NCFE, FE Associates and NAMSS, with support from The Skills Network. FE Week is the media partner.