Across the Products of Change community, more than 1,500 individuals are driving sustainability action within their businesses. But who is going above and beyond? The POC SDG Member Awards recognise just that.

This year at the POC Conference on 5 November, we will hold the third annual POC SDG Member Awards, created in partnership with Caroline Petit from the United Nations, celebrating those championing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Join us as we celebrate the pioneers, the innovators, and the leaders who are shaping the future of our industry.

In partnership with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the POC Awards recognise outstanding contributions from our members across four categories:

• Partnership for the Goals (SDG 17) – celebrating collaboration that drives collective progress.
• Responsible Consumption & Production (SDG 12) – spotlighting leadership in sustainable product and packaging innovation.
• Climate Action (SDG 13) – recognising measurable impact in reducing emissions and environmental footprint.
• Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure (SDG 9) – rewarding breakthrough ideas and systems that are building a future-fit industry.

Together, these awards honour those who are not only making change within their organisations, but also inspiring progress across the wider community.

In preparation for this year’s awards, we are sharing the winners from the last two years and the fantastic achievements they completed to earn them.

POC Award winners 2024

The first award, aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals, recognised one of our inaugural POC members, a fearless leader driving change across the industry, influencing companies both large and small. This went to Anita Majhu from BBC Studios.

The second award highlights the significant impact that an agency can have on a partner’s business, particularly at the intersection of industries. Aligning with Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, this award went to Lisa Foster and Andrew Hajithemistou and the team at The Marketing Store (tms).

Lisa Foster, global sustainability product lead, tms, commented, “Andrew Hajithemistou and I were truly humbled to be called up to receive the Responsible Consumption and Production award for tms, recognising our impact across our client portfolio, notably for the work we undertake across the full spectrum of activity for McDonald’s Happy Meal campaigns.”

POC’s third award went to a brand that is continuing to push the boundaries of sustainable collaboration within the industry. This award aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action. We were so pleased to award this to Maxine Lister and her team at the Natural History Museum.

On receiving the award, Maxine Lister said, “The team at the Natural History Museum are thrilled to have won a Sustainability Award at the Products of Change conference, we are incredibly proud of our licensees and collaborators who work with us on our sustainability journey and to be awarded this by our peers.”

The fourth and final award celebrated the winners’ dedication to partnerships, collaboration and leadership within the children’s publishing space. Therefore, our final award of 2024, aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 9: Industry Innovation and Infrastructure, is presented to Members of the Children’s Magazine Forum from Seymour Distribution, Immediate Media, Redan Publishing, Story House Egmont, Kennedy Publishing, DC Thomson and Frontline.

Steph Cooper, Immediate Media, commented, “To have won this prize means absolutely everything, it’s totally fantastic and completely unexpected. Throughout this whole journey so far we are constantly thinking about next steps. We talk about the third horizon – we’ve got a long way to go but we know the steps we need to take to get there.”

Duncan Shearer, Seymour, added, “It’s been six years of hard work and collaboration and ideas generation. The force of the category coming together has been absolutely amazing.”

POC Award winners 2023

Caroline Petit, deputy director of the United Nations’ Regional Information Centre joined Products of Change for the inaugural POC awards in 2023, handing out four carefully selected awards for categories aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals.

The first of the four – aligning with SDG number 17: Partnership for the Goals, was awarded to the LEGO Group and was collected by Sine Møller, sustainability transformation director, and Jakob Max Hamann, sustainability lead, for the team’s tireless commitment to not only sustainable development across its core business and consumer products operations, but the lead it has taken in driving cross-industry collaboration and partnership.

Award number two was awarded to Asda and George at Asda and was in alignment with SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. The award was handed to Asda’s senior sustainability manager, Jade Snart; and George at Asda’s sustainability manager, Jennifer Ward as the UK retail giant was championed for its ongoing sustainability strategy that includes concerted steps towards the repair, refurbishment, reuse, and resell of items and consumer goods.

“It was an absolute privilege to be one of the first winners of the POC SDG Members Awards,” said Jade. “I have had the pleasure of being a part of the POC community for the last four years and I felt incredibly honoured to receive it.”

The third award aligned with SDG number 13: Climate Action and was handed to Carousel Calendars, a company celebrated for its commitment to mapping its impact for a number of years; taking the lead in innovation within its sector by sharing its processes, and for becoming the first in the sector to have its science-based target reduction approved by SBTi. The award was collected by Martin Rees-Davies, Carousel Calendar’s licensing and business development director on behalf of Steve Plackett, managing director.

“I would like to thank Helena and Rob and the whole Products of Change organisation for the inspiring work they do,” said Steve. “We are pleased to be part of a great organisation.

“Our environmental efforts over the last five years have been a huge team effort so thanks goes to every single person in our team.”

The fourth and final POC SDG Member Award – aligned with SDG number 9: Industry Innovation and Infrastructure – went to not one company but two: Wastebusters and the team at Tesco which have both worked hard over the last three years to bring the cross-industry initiative Recycle to Read into stores earlier this year.

Wastebusters’ founder, Katy Newnham was joined by Tesco’s Cheryl Thomson and Felicity Thomson in collecting the accolade, awarded for the implementation of a pilot campaign to drive awareness of re-homing and re-selling while unlocking value for schools in need of resources.

It was highlighted by Products of Change founder, Helena Mansell-Stopher, that while the award was handed to Wastebusters and the Tesco team, the initiative could not have got off the ground without the support of key members and brands within the children’s publishing and toy industries, signifying a real cross-industry effort.

“We are so delighted to receive this prestigious award for Recycle to Read,” said Katy. “We are very proud of the programme as it is both enabling children to care for the environment, see the difference they are making together, and get to read lovely new books.

“We believe in the power of storytelling to capture children’s imaginations and take them on journeys of discovery which is why we have teamed up with some of the greatest storytellers of our time to write a new narrative arc of impossible to possible when it comes to caring for our environment.”

Join us at the Products of Change Conference 2025 to see who will recognised in this year’s POC SDG Member Awards. Click here for more information.