Winners Announced at Inaugural Nigel Mason Award

The winners of the first-ever Nigel Mason Award have been announced, celebrating powerful research and continuing the legacy of a true authority on employee ownership.

Image: (L-R) Andrew Pendleton, Ruth Sawtell, and Andrew Robinson

Andrew Pendleton and Andrew Robinson have together been crowned winners of the inaugural Nigel Mason Award for Employee Ownership Research – the UK’s only prize dedicated to recognising and promoting excellence in this field.

The winners were announced by the Centre on Mutual and Co-Owned Business at Kellogg College for their “outstanding and sustained contribution to research on employee ownership”. 

Their recent paper, ‘Employee ownership trusts: an employee ownership success story’, was singled out by the judging panel as an exemplary piece of scholarship with real-world impact.

They also founded the White Rose Employee Ownership Centre (WREOC), a leading centre for research and practice, in 2013. 

Since 2014, it has worked as partners with the eoa to research and promote UK employee ownership.

As well as undertaking a sector survey, the WREOC has historically compiled the sector’s most extensive data profile each year. This has now evolved into the EO Business Register, the UK’s most comprehensive data and insights on employee ownership.

An Enormous Contribution

“Professors Pendleton and Robinson have made enormous contributions of evidence, analysis and academic scholarship, which are influencing the development of employee ownership initiatives across the globe,” said Chair of the judging panel, Professor Jonathan Michie.

"The judging panel was unanimous in its decision to celebrate their achievements by awarding them, jointly, the inaugural Nigel Mason Award.”

The Award was announced by Rose Marley, CEO of Co-operatives UK, and presented by Nigel’s widow, Ruth Sawtell.

Professors Pendleton and Robinson said: “We are deeply honoured and delighted to receive the inaugural Nigel Mason Employee Ownership Award for our research. 

“Nigel was a tireless and passionate advocate of EO over many years, playing a vital role in its development across the UK. We feel privileged to be recognised with an award in his name.”

Two other nominees were included in the final shortlist:

1. Professor Niels Mygind for his updated literature review on the effects and formats of employee ownership, which in particular offered valuable models for countries with few employee owned firms.
2. Martin Stucki for his research into employee owned entrepreneurship, particularly a report setting out pragmatic, achievable steps to foster employee ownership in Scotland, which the Panel agreed should be highly commended.

About the Nigel Mason Awards

Launched in memory of Nigel Mason, one of the UK’s foremost experts on employee ownership who died in 2021, the Award celebrates the most significant recent contribution to EO research. 

Nigel’s vision for an annual award highlighting and encouraging excellence in EO research was realised thanks to the Award Committee members, judges, and the Nigel Mason Bequest, which includes eoa International Ambassador, Graeme Nuttall, as a trustee. 

Winners receive a cash prize alongside recognition from academics, practitioners and businesses working across the sector. 

By shining a spotlight on high-quality scholarship, the Award aims to advance understanding and practice of employee ownership – a business model that continues to grow in scale, reach and influence.

The eoa was proud to support the launch of the award last year and help continue a great man’s legacy.

Nigel, who was a policy adviser at the eoa from 2009 to 2011, continued that role unofficially when he became the owner of RM2 in 2015, with the business becoming an eoa Specialist Advisor member, drawing on the experience of supporting thousands of businesses to adopt shares schemes.