Psychiatry can get a bad press. Too often, the media focuses on the rare occasions when things go wrong within mental health services and ignores all the excellent work being carried out by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals every single day.

I felt very strongly that the Royal College of Psychiatrists should take a lead in recognising excellence in psychiatry and mental health and so, when I began my presidency in July 2008, I vowed to start an annual RCPsych Awards ceremony.

Unsure what to expect in the first year, we were delighted to receive hundreds of entries - all of an incredibly high standard. Earlier this month, 300 guests gathered at the Royal Society of Medicine to hear about the winners of the nine RCPsych Awards categories. The judging panel looked for teams and individuals who went beyond general standards of good practice to provide truly exceptional services for service users and carers.

Medical experts have multi-faceted roles. Nominees in the individual Awards categories needed to demonstrate their skills as a professional, communicator, collaborator, advocate, scholar, researcher and manager, as well as excellent leadership, responsibility and accountability skills.

Teams needed to demonstrate excellence in delivery, innovation, effective use of resources, improvement in service user, carer and GP satisfaction, and progress in the development of clinical outcomes.

The ceremony was hosted by writer and broadcaster Libby Purves, who spoke of her very personal reasons for wanting to be involved. Three years ago, Libby lost her son to suicide, after his long battle with depression. But despite this tragedy, Libby said her family’s encounters with mental health services had been positive and paid tribute to what she described as the unique blend of scientific and intuitive skills offered by psychiatrists.

Dr Ian Harwood, a CT2 at Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, and Dr Susham Gupta, a fourth-year specialist registrar at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, won the Core Psychiatric Trainee of the Year and Advanced Psychiatric Trainee of the Year awards respectively. Both trainees demonstrated exceptional levels of achievement far beyond that expected of their grade.

Outstanding multi-disciplinary team working was showcased by the winners of the Psychiatric Team of the Year Award - The Bridge Substance Misuse Service in Solihull - and the Mental Health Service Provider of the Year Award - Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust. Oxleas enjoyed a double celebration when medical director Dr Ify Okocha took the prize for Medical Manager of the Year.

The Psychiatric Academic of the Year award was presented to Michael Sharpe, Professor of Psychological Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and honorary consultant psychiatrist to the Edinburgh Hospitals, for his dedication to enhancing psychiatry’s relevance and reputation amongst medical colleagues, and mentoring the next generation of psychiatrists.

Dr Phil Timms, of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, was named Public Educator of the Year for producing accessible, evidence-based mental health information leaflets for the public.

Service users and carers voted Dr David Fearnley as their Psychiatrist of the Year, for making a positive impact to service user and carer well-being and encouraging change in the development of mental health policy. He has been a consultant forensic psychiatrist at Ashworth General Hospital for eight years, and is also medical director and deputy chief executive of Mersey Care NHS Trust.

Lastly, care services minister Phil Hope presented the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award to Professor Sir David Goldberg in recognition of his mastery of the discipline, unparalleled research and teaching skills, and wise ambassadorship on behalf of patients and psychiatry. Sir David’s influence on psychiatry extends far beyond his own generation and will endure long into the future.

On behalf of the College, I want to congratulate all this year’s winners and shortlisted nominees. I can promise that next year’s Awards will be even bigger and better. Nominations for the RCPsych Awards 2010 will open in December. I encourage you to spread the word among your psychiatric colleagues, and encourage the individuals, teams and organisations that you believe are making a real contribution to mental health services to apply.