Mortal Fools, Wins ‘Tech for Good’ Award for Pioneering Approach to Supporting Children’s Mental Health

Kiz Crosbie and Zoe Anderson (second from left)

• Ashington-based creative arts charity recognised for the impact of innovative interactive digital storytelling platform, MELVA, which uses creative activities to drive social change.
  
  
• The platform has helped 10,000 children in the northeast improve their understanding and capabilities managing their mental health.
  
  
• The Northern PoWEr Women Awards celebrate organisations and leaders driving meaningful change across the north.
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• Mortal Fools soon to speak in Parliament about how creative learning and tech innovations can boost young people’s wellbeing.

Mortal Fools has won a prestigious Northern PoWEr Women Award for the impact of its innovative primary school mental health programme, MELVA. The charity
took home the Inclusive Innovation: Tech for Good award for its children’s
wellbeing digital platform, which is currently being used in around 100
primary schools across the North East.

The Northern PoWEr Women Awards, supported by Barclays and Bank of
America, took place in Manchester on 12 March. The event shone a spotlight
on individuals and organisations driving equity, inclusion and social impact
across the North. The awards – celebrating their tenth year – received 1,800
nominations, with 90 independent judges choosing the winners.

The award coincides with an important milestone for Mortal Fools and the
MELVA programme, which has now reached 10,000 children across the North
and will be presented to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Createch at the
Houses of Parliament in April.

The Tech for Good award recognises organisations using digital innovation to
create meaningful social impact, celebrating technology that improves lives,
communities and opportunities. Mortal Fools’ MELVA platform stood out to
judges for its creative and preventative approach to supporting children’s
mental health in primary schools – focused on storytelling and participatory
learning, through films, animation, literature, games and classroom exercises.
This national recognition of the impact of the MELVA programme comes at a
critical time, as children’s mental health needs continue to escalate nationwide
and schools seek effective and engaging ways to support them.

In the 2025/26 academic year, around100 primary schools are currently using
the MELVA programme, benefiting upward of 10,000 children.

Kiz Crosbie, Artistic Director and CEO of Mortal Fools, celebrated the news,
saying:

“I am delighted and proud that the impact of our Melva Digital programme has
been recognised at the 2026 Northern PoWEr Women Awards.
This award acknowledges the success of our digital platform and participatory
storytelling as an early intervention and prevention approach to children’s
mental health and wellbeing.

In receiving this award, we share it with all of the teachers who use the
programme in their classrooms, the talented creatives who have been part of
making it , and the belief in this work demonstrated by our key funding partners
– especially the North East Combined Authority and the Kavli Trust – who have
been fundamental to the programme’s development and growth in the last few
years..”

Alongside this award and a growing number of schools adopting the MELVA
programme, Mortal Fools is proudly advocating for creative learning as a
leading approach in mental health education nationally – supporting the
wellbeing of young people across the North East and beyond.

If you’re interested in using MELVA in your school, click here to register your interest with us.