Meet the judges for the Cannabis Industry Awards 2026
With nominations now closed for the Cannabis Industry Awards 2026, we introduce this year’s judging panel and find out what they will be looking for as they assess the individuals driving progress across the UK cannabis sector.
Thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination for this year’s Cannabis Industry Awards. Following the close of nominations on 18 September, entries are now moving through the shortlisting process, ahead of the judging rounds from 9-23 October.
The winners will be announced at the Cannabis Industry Awards Dinner on Wednesday 11 November at the HAC in London, bringing the sector together to recognise excellence, leadership and impact.
This year’s judges bring experience spanning healthcare, science, patient advocacy, business, sustainability, professional standards and industry leadership. While their backgrounds vary, there is a clear thread running through what they will be looking for: real-world impact, evidence of delivery, high standards and people prepared to do things properly – even when that is the harder route.
Meet the 2026 judging panel
The 2026 judges are:
- Professor Mike Barnes, CIC Honorary President
- Jamie Bartley, CEO and Founder, Unyte
- Frances Crewdson, CIC Co-Chair
- Tom Gray, CIC Co-Chair and Co-Founder & CEO, Lumino Group
- Nick Pateras, CIC Treasurer
- Dr Callie Seaman, Managing Director, Sunnyside Consultancy
- Dr Luisa Searle, Consultant Psychiatrist
- Heidi Whitman, Managing Director, PPX
Together, they bring perspectives from across the cannabis ecosystem, including clinical practice, patient care, science, cultivation, policy, sustainability, recruitment, commercial strategy and international markets.
Looking for real impact
For several of this year’s judges, a strong nomination will be about substance rather than profile.
Tom Gray, CIC Co-Chair and Co-Founder & CEO of Lumino Group, says he will be looking for:
“Real impact for patients, and people who’ve done it the right way even when it was the harder route.”
For Dr Callie Seaman, a plant scientist and formulation chemist with more than 25 years of experience across cultivation, product development and the regulated and legacy cannabis markets, evidence of sustained contribution will also be important.
She wants to see people who have made a meaningful impact on both patients and the wider sector, supported by evidence of their ongoing work, not simply the most visible or popular individuals. Callie says the awards are an important opportunity to recognise the people who continue to push the sector forward, particularly as it develops and matures.
Evidence, compliance and delivery
That focus on demonstrable impact is echoed by Jamie Bartley, CEO and Founder of Unyte Group and a former CIC Executive Co-Chair. Jamie has spent much of the past decade working across industrial hemp, sustainability, regulation and construction, including advising the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Industrial Hemp and CBD Products.
Asked what he wants to see from nominees this year, his answer is clear:
“Compliance done well, and evidence of delivery.”
For Jamie, that means looking beyond claims to measurable results – whether those are patient outcomes, yields, carbon data or supply chains that have demonstrated their value over time.
“Anyone who has built something real inside the Home Office licensing framework, the MHRA route or the novel foods regime knows how much work sits behind a product on a shelf or a patient with a prescription.”
He also sees recognition as an important part of building credibility across a still-developing industry.
“Awards give us a way to point at the people doing it properly, to set a benchmark for those coming in, and to give policymakers concrete examples when we’re asking for change.”
Raising standards across the sector
Professionalism, quality and trust also feature strongly in what this year’s judges want to recognise. Frances Crewdson, CIC Co-Chair, brings more than 30 years of healthcare experience to the panel, including 22 years at GlaxoSmithKline across marketing, innovation and business development. She later moved into medical cannabis and chaired the CIC’s Standards Working Group before becoming Co-Chair in 2025.
For Frances, recognising excellence has a role beyond celebrating individual success:
“I want to see commitment to excellence – businesses that combine innovation with consistent quality, safety and trust running through everything they do.”
“When we shine a light on the businesses doing things properly, it helps the whole industry grow and earns it the credibility it deserves. Awards like this aren’t just a celebration, they’re a signal of where the sector is heading.”
Patient focus, equality and trust
Heidi Whitman, Managing Director of PPX, brings more than a decade of experience across UK, European and international cannabis, plant-based therapeutics and regulated wellness markets. She is also Co-Founder and Chairwoman of the EmpowHer Cannabis Society, a global network supporting women working across the cannabis industry.
Heidi says she will be looking for forward thinkers who demonstrate patient focus alongside quality, compliance and traceability.
“As an industry, we need to demonstrate trust in our processes and security in the medicines we deliver, treated with the same quality, compliance, and traceability as any other pharmaceutical.”
She will also be looking at whether organisations and individuals build equality into how they make decisions, develop businesses and create products.
For Heidi, recognising excellence is about helping to establish the standards the wider sector should aspire to:
“We need to raise the bar and do better for everyone.”
Innovation and going the extra mile
Professor Mike Barnes, CIC Honorary President, has worked in the cannabis field for more than 20 years. A neurologist, he was involved in the development of Sativex, produced a report on the efficacy and safety of cannabis for the APPG on Drug Policy in 2016 and assisted with the first UK cannabis prescription in 2018. He went on to establish the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society with Hannah Deacon and later founded the Cannabis Industry Council.
Asked what will stand out among this year’s nominees, Mike identifies:
“Innovation, making a difference, fighting against the odds, going the extra mile.”
For Mike, recognising those efforts can encourage others to continue pushing standards forward.
“It will encourage others to realise that the extra effort should be recognised and, hopefully, will continue to improve standards.”
Celebrating the people driving progress
The judging panel also includes Nick Pateras, CIC Treasurer, and Dr Luisa Searle, Consultant Psychiatrist, bringing further commercial, strategic and clinical perspectives to the process. Across the panel, there is a shared view that recognising excellence is about more than celebrating achievement on one evening.
As Tom Gray puts it:
“The sector still gets judged on its worst actors, so putting the best ones in front of people really matters.”
For Jamie Bartley, credibility remains one of the sector’s most important assets. For Frances Crewdson, recognition establishes a benchmark for professional standards. And for Callie Seaman, recognising good actors can help ensure that committed people continue working to create the sector that patients deserve.
Taken together, these perspectives reflect what the Cannabis Industry Awards seek to celebrate: people whose work, leadership and commitment are contributing to a more credible, professional, innovative and patient-focused UK cannabis sector.
What happens next?
Shortlisting is now underway and will continue until 9 October, followed by the judging rounds from 9–23 October.
The 2026 awards and sponsors
The Cannabis Industry Awards 2026 are presented by headline sponsors Aurora Medicine and Medistack, whose support helps the CIC bring the sector together and recognise the people contributing to its continued development.
This year’s awards and category sponsors are:
- Unsung Hero Award – sponsored by Aurora Medicine & Medistack
- Hannah Deacon Doctor of the Year Award – sponsored by British Cannabis
- Contribution to Social Impact Award – sponsored by Hilltop Leaf
- Pharmacist of the Year – sponsored by Curaleaf Laboratories
- Contribution to Science Award – sponsored by ECS Pharma
- The Green Award – sponsored by PV Global
- Customer Service Award
- Industry Leader of the Year Award – sponsorship opportunity available
We would like to thank all of our sponsors for helping us celebrate excellence across the sector and recognise the individuals whose work, commitment and leadership are helping to move it forward.
Join us at the Cannabis Industry Awards Dinner
The winners will be announced at the Cannabis Industry Awards Dinner on Wednesday 11 November 2026 at the HAC in London. The evening will bring together professionals from across the UK cannabis sector for an evening of awards, dinner, entertainment and networking.
Individual tickets and tables are available now.
Join us as we celebrate this year’s nominees and recognise the people helping to shape the future of the UK cannabis sector.
