Soldiering On Awards: We have a winner!

02 November 2022

SSAFA is delighted to announce our nominee and fundraiser Gina Allsop won this year’s Inspiration Award and SSAFA supporter Sally Orange won the Sporting Excellence Award. Alongside them was Chris Lewis, fiancée Kate, baby Magnus and their dog Jet who were collecting their well-deserved Animal Partnership award from 2021.

Over 650 guests gathered at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge on Thursday 27 October 2022, with 610 guests seated for dinner in addition to some amazing acts, Military hosts and the Soldiering On Awards team. The 12th annual ceremony was the biggest in the Soldiering On Awards’ history as finalists from the last two years, who had been restricted to virtual celebrations, were invited to join their 2022 counterparts to celebrate with representatives from all three services, military charities, and corporate supporters.

Gina’s Inspiration Award

This award honours a person who has overcome significant challenges, injury or disability, and whose ongoing or past outstanding achievements are an inspiration to others within the Armed Forces community. Gina won through a public vote.

Gina is a Veteran, adventure racer, volunteer with the Army Cadets, volunteer Marine Mammal Medic, and successful fundraiser. She is also the editor of a poetry book, Military Memories, which was inspired by her brother’s funeral. The book is an important way of raising funds for military charities, and as a conduit for mental wellbeing, both for those who wrote the poems and those who read them. She has raised thousands of pounds for charity and is an inspirational speaker at many SSAFA events.

Gina does all this, despite personal adversity. She has seen friends killed in action, her brother died of cancer, she has sustained many injuries, through service and sport yet still she soldiers on with a smile and support for others.

Sally’s Sporting Excellence Award

Sally’s award respects a person that has overcome challenges in pursuit of sporting excellence, demonstrating outstanding achievement in the field of sport and contributing to the endeavours and advancement of the Armed Forces Community. She also won through a public vote.

Sally, who has raised tens of thousands of pounds for SSAFA, is an endurance athlete, physiotherapist and award-winning mental health campaigner. She has completed a marathon on every continent – each time dressed as a different piece of fruit!

Sally holds multiple Guinness World Records and world firsts. She’s completed over 70 marathons, eight Ironman triathlons, the relentless cycle ‘Race Across America’, and has run the toughest footrace on earth. She’s also cycled the length of New Zealand, swum the English Channel relay and skied 250km across the Arctic circle!

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer said:

“Congratulations to all of the winners of the Soldiering On Awards. The recipients of these awards highlight the incredible values that our armed forces bring to civilian life. I’m delighted to have celebrated these fantastic successes in person with award winners and nominees.”