Sian Miljkovic, who is studying Social Work while working as a children’s social worker with Central Bedfordshire Council, will find out if she has won the Student Social Worker of the Year award at the lavish awards ceremony in London later this month.

Bedfordshire graduate Slavica Tobdzic, who also works with the Council as a children’s social worker, has also been shortlisted for an award in the Children’s Social Worker of the Year category.

Sian said: “I feel very proud to have been nominated for the award and am overwhelmed to have been shortlisted as a finalist. I am very grateful to the amazing people around me in Children's Services who have mentored and guided me and demonstrated exceptional social worker practice for me to base my own skills on.”

Slavica said: “I am extremely honoured and grateful to have been nominated and shortlisted. We come into social work not to be recognised but to support, safeguard and give children and young people the opportunity to achieve their best possible outcomes.”

Sian and Slavica join 93 finalists across 16 categories and the winners from each category will compete against each other to be named the Overall Social Worker of the Year 2018.

The prestigious awards ceremony is the leading celebration of its kind in the social care sector, and recognises the achievements and successes of the profession’s most innovative and dedicated social workers.

Head of the School of Applied Social Studies at Bedfordshire Dr Louise Grant said: “We are absolutely delighted and proud to hear that Sian and Slavica have been nominated for these awards. Our Social Work programme is one which is highly regarded by employers and this is testimony to their commitment, hard work and excellence in practice, as well as the partnership we have with Central Bedfordshire Council and in the Social Work Teaching Team.”