Applications for Clarion Housing Group's William Sutton Prize

Clarion seeks applications for concept, product or services that have a positive social impact on a community.

Following the success of the inaugural William Sutton Prize, Clarion Housing Group has today announced that applications are open for the second year of the scheme.

Clarion is seeking applications from individuals or organisations presenting an innovative concept, product or service that will have a positive social impact on a community.

The William Sutton Prize for Social Innovation will be awarded to an individual or organisation that has developed a ground-breaking new product, concept or service that will make a positive social impact on disadvantaged groups or communities.

The William Sutton Prize for Placemaking and Affordable Housing Design will be awarded to an individual or organisation that has developed a ground-breaking design concept that will improve the quality of life and support the wellbeing of residents and communities.

The William Sutton Prize was developed by Clarion Housing Group to celebrate William Sutton’s legacy as a 19th century innovator and philanthropist who bequeathed his fortune to improve the quality of social housing.

There is a prize fund of up to £20,000 on offer for each of the two categories, with the funding provided by Clarion Futures, the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group. The winning entries will be determined by a panel of industry experts led by Clare Miller, group chief executive of Clarion.

Last year's winners

One of the winners of the inaugural William Sutton Prize was Micro Rainbow for their proposal to expand the number of safe homes available to vulnerable LGBTI asylum seekers and refugees.

Sebastian Rocca, Founder and CEO of Micro Rainbow, said:

“The sexuality, gender identity and immigration issues we work to address can make organisations reluctant to provide support, but this was not the case with Clarion Housing Group."

“Winning the William Sutton Prize has made such a difference, increasing our profile and injecting much-needed resources to support the growth of the project. We would very much encourage other social enterprises and charities to apply.”

The other winner was VeloCity whose vision is to redesign villages for the 21st century with higher density housing and a design that promotes physical activity and an end to car dependency.

Petra Marko from the VeloCity team said:

“Thanks to winning the William Sutton Prize, we’ve been able to bring our VeloCity vision closer to reality, meeting experts and visiting projects as part of our research phase."

“The backing of Clarion Housing Group has helped us immensely in the process of building partnerships with potential clients and gave us a lot of insight into enabling development, as well as supporting and encouraging us along the way.”

Clare Miller, Group Chief Executive of Clarion Housing Group, commented:

“William Sutton’s legacy was to transform lives and communities and we believe this Prize can help do the same. It is very rewarding to see the difference already being made by our inaugural winners and I am looking forward to supporting more innovative social entrepreneurs this year.”