Who is he?
Dame Barbara Windsor's husband, Scott Mitchell, gave an exclusive interview to The Sun columnist Jane Moore in 2018, announcing that his wife was living with Alzheimer's. The Alzheimer's Society asked if he and Windsor would support the Dementia Revolution campaign to raise awareness of the condition and raise money to fund dementia research.
What did he do?
The support of Mitchell and Windsor coincided with the announcement of the public ballot for London Marathon places. A video showing Windsor urging those with ballot places to run for Dementia Revolution remains the campaign's most popular social media post, reaching more than 565,000 people on Facebook and achieving 314,342 Twitter impressions.
Mitchell dedicated substantial hours to interviews, generated celebrity support and was extremely active on the campaign's closed Facebook group. He helped to recruit eight of Windsor’s former EastEnders castmates, known as Barbara's Revolutionaries, and ran the London Marathon with them, raising more than £148,000.
Why did he win?
As the spouse of a loved one with dementia, Mitchell was able to speak emotionally and reliably about the condition, giving the campaign a human voice. A survey carried out after marathon day revealed that one in three UK adults were aware of the campaign. The highest proportion heard about it from radio and TV, demonstrating the impact of Mitchell’s interviews. Barbara's Revolutionaries were featured in 3,028 media articles, dominating the Dementia Revolution press. Current campaign fundraising income stands at £3.2m.
Highly commended
Rebecca Adlington, Encephalitis Society
Finalists
Yianni Charalambous, Rays of Sunshine
Ben Fogle, British Red Cross
Professor Alice Roberts, Humanists UK
