The Right to Equality Awards 2026

Winner: Sabina Challenger, founder of It’s My Family

Sabina is a qualified social worker who saw a gap between safeguarding principles and how they are applied during her own experience of family mediation. She founded It’s My Family to support protective parents going through family court and child contact proceedings. People who have worked with her describe a rare mix of empathy and pragmatism, and praise her knowledge of legislation, policy and process. Sabina works from the principle that safeguarding must never be secondary to contact.

Winner: Dr Kulsoom Yusuf Pridmore

Dr Pridmore is Head of Discipline for Continuous Professional Development at the University of Derby, but her work for victims and survivors goes far beyond that role, particularly for survivors of honour-based abuse and forced marriage. She is a trustee of the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO), has been both Chair and Trustee of Karma Nirvana, and is Deputy Chair of the Rochdale Honour-Based Abuse Group. She has worked closely with Manchester Police and the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Board. Nominators spoke of her commitment to practical change, and her warmth and generosity.

Winner: Elisabeth Traugott, barrister at Garden Court Chambers

Clients repeatedly spoke of Elisabeth’s compassion, her empowering approach and her commitment to fairness and justice, alongside her legal skill. Her determination over years of litigation was also praised. As one client put it, her humanity is what sets her apart.

Winner: Professor Lara Feigel

Lara has used her scholarly and literary skills to bring the reality of family justice to a wider audience. She has written for the Sunday Times, the Guardian and the Daily Mail, has contributed regularly to the Right to Equality blog, and published the book Custody: The Secret History of Mothers. After legal challenges to three non-identifying sentences about her own family court case, thousands of copies of her book were pulped, twice. She now campaigns for legislative change to stop survivors being silenced. Nominators praised her careful, well-researched journalism and her respect for privacy.

Winner: Claire Throssell MBE

Claire has campaigned tirelessly on behalf of her two sons, Jack and Paul, who were murdered by their father during a court-ordered contact visit in 2014. She has turned unbearable loss into changes in professional practice, policy and the law of England and Wales, including the repeal of the presumption of parental involvement through the Women’s Aid Child First campaign. She has met multiple prime ministers, given evidence to Parliament, gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures, delivered training, written a book and refocused the family justice system on its responsibility to protect children.

Winner: Dr Tamara Amoroso Gonsalves

Tamara is a lawyer and researcher who has used her global perspective, and fluency in four languages, to shift the debate on parental alienation. She coordinated and edited a book on parental alienation in Latin America and the Caribbean, and has co-authored multiple submissions and shadow reports to the United Nations. Her work helps policy makers understand parental alienation as a tool used around the world to discredit women and children who report violence and abuse.

High commendation: Dr Elizabeth Dalgarno, senior lecturer in Medical Education at the University of Manchester, for her work raising awareness of the physical and mental health impacts of family proceedings on children and survivors.

Winner: Natalie Page

Natalie is the founder of the #thecourtsaid campaign and the Survivor Family Network CiC, which supports mothers and children navigating family court after abuse. Her investigations have featured on Channel 4, Woman’s Hour on Radio 4, in the Guardian and in the Independent. This year she presented a dossier to the Ministry of Defence of 52 cases of domestic abuse in which survivors faced institutional silence and cover-up. Her book The System is the Weapon is being published in multiple countries. Jo Dale accepted the award and shared Natalie’s words on her behalf.

Winner: PEEPSA, founded by Sarah Taylor

PEEPSA is a survivor-led organisation that raises awareness of post-separation abuse and supports people living with it. It offers peer support groups that are otherwise hard to find, online and increasingly in person, and it delivers training, supports research and campaigns on issues affecting survivors, especially where family court is involved. Nominators praised PEEPSA for turning lived experience into practical change, largely on a voluntary basis.

Winner: Jo Dale

Jo is a tireless advocate for family court reform. Despite experiencing intense adversity in the family justice system herself, she advocates for other survivors on a personal and an institutional level. Her nomination was supported by several MPs, who said she helped them and other parliamentarians truly understand the injustices that can happen in private family proceedings. Her work led to the first dedicated parliamentary debate on child removal in private proceedings earlier this year. Other mothers in similarly devastating circumstances rely on her practical knowledge and encouragement.

Commendation: Caron Kipping, divorce and separation coach, for the incredible work she does day in, day out behind the scenes for survivors of abuse and family court proceedings.

Winner: Tracey Norton

Tracey coordinates the Winvisible Disabled Mothers’ Rights campaign, which focuses on disabled women’s financial independence, recognition of caring work, and safety, including in family court proceedings. She also supports mothers through Support not Separation, with a focus on disabled mothers and mothers accused of fabricated or induced illness and parental alienation. Her work fills a critical gap that mainstream campaigns and services too often neglect.

Winner: Sara Davison

Known as The Divorce Coach, Sara has reached more than 26 million people navigating separation. She has trained and mentored over 800 coaches in more than 30 countries through accredited programmes that address domestic abuse, trauma and harmful family court practices. She is the author of multiple bestselling books, a patron of the DASH charity, host of the Heartbreak to Happiness podcast, and an advocate and campaigner on domestic abuse in parliament.

Winner: HHJ Kambiz Moradifar.

Judge Moradifar has a reputation for being fair and open-minded, including when sitting as a High Court Judge on difficult and sensitive cases involving controlling and coercive behaviour and sexual offences. In Hannah Summers & Anor v Kristopher Paul Arthur White & Ors [2024] EWFC 182 he balanced transparency with the welfare of the child, and he also decided Lewis v Wood on controlling and coercive behaviour. He takes a careful and innovative approach to access to justice for neurodivergent clients, and he is unafraid to make decisive findings where justice demands it.

Winner: Dr Marie Tidball 

Through determination and grit, Marie has turned a legislative change once considered controversial into a rallying cry for many MPs. Her passionate words and commitment give hope to survivors and children that safer and fairer family courts are possible.