The John Connell Awards 2024 - Winners and IOA Secondary Schools Competition Winner

The John Connell Awards 2024 took place at the Palace of Westminster on the evening of 16th October 2024, kindly hosted by The Lord Balfe. The awards were presented by Gabrielle Edwards CBE, Director for Environmental Quality (Defra).

The awards are named after NAS’s far-sighted founder John Connell OBE, who lobbied the Noise Abatement Act through Parliament in 1960 when noise became a statutory nuisance in the UK for the first time. These unique annual awards, known as the ‘Noise Oscars’, are now in their 23rd year. They acknowledge the importance of the quality of sound in our lives, and champion vital advances in reducing the negative impact of unnecessary noise for the public benefit. Over 450 recipients from local authorities, industry, organisations and individuals have now been honoured for the significant impact they have made to improve the aural environment. 

John Connell Innovation Award 2024

Innovation is the key to solving noise pollution for the benefit of all. This award, sponsored by the Institute of Acoustics, recognises original thinking, products and solutions when faced with particularly challenging acoustic issues.

Winner: UK Health Security Agency and Colleagues

For developing the impactful project ‘Putting Noise on the Map’ the John Connell Innovation Award 2024 Winner is UK Health Security Agency and Colleagues. This project aims to reduce the health burden of transportation noise through data and insight. This team estimated the burden of disease from road, rail, and aircraft noise across England, revealing over 130,000 disability-adjusted life years lost annually. The project used GIS mapping to highlight noise disparities and assist policymakers in planning healthier sound environments. With contributions to parliamentary inquiries and industry guidance, this project represents a vital step towards reducing noise-related public health risks in the UK.

Highly Commended: Arup

For developing ‘Project CAELUS’, the John Connell Innovation Award 2024 Highly Commended goes to Arup. This project aims to create a national drone network to transport medical supplies across Scotland, including the remotest areas. This low-carbon initiative integrates public perception of drone noise into the design process, using innovative auralisation and listening tests. By building an evidence base through data collection and public engagement it sets a precedent for incorporating noise mitigation into drone network designs, whilst improving healthcare accessibility.

For a full list of winners go to: https://noiseabatementsociety.org/john-connell-awards-2024/

The Institute of Acoustics Secondary Schools Competition 2024

The Institute of Acoustics held a schools’ competition to encourage students to listen more carefully to the sound environment. The effects of sound on wildlife are a critical consideration for the improvement of biodiversity. For this year’s Secondary School Competition, we asked children to explore the connection between acoustics and ecology, specifically birds, as we did last year. Children were asked to identify three acoustically difference areas, describe the soundscape of each area and use the BirdNET app to identify birds that are present in each area. This entry stood out as being exceptionally well thought out, with good descriptions of each stage and a very professional presentation.

Winner: Orla Keane, Emily Clarke and Isla Parker from St. Oscar Romero Catholic School

Gloria Elliott OBE, NAS CEO said, ‘Congratulations to the pupils at St Oscar Romeo who produced a particularly thoughtful and professional local Soundscape presentation.’

Angela Lamacraft, IOA Council Member, FIOA and Senior Acoustic Consultant, Sustainable Acoustics Ltd said, the entry from Orla, Emily and Isla at St Oscar Romero Catholic School stood out as being exceptionally well thought out, with good descriptions of each stage and a very professional presentation.