Meet the nominees for our 2026 Helen Bailey Award
June 2026
We are delighted to reveal the four nominees for our 2026 Helen Bailey Award. Congratulations to all of the talented bloggers, podcasters and vloggers who have been put forward for this year’s award.
In recognition of the different ways widowed people are choosing to share their stories, this year we decided to extend our Helen Bailey Award to include digital storytelling through podcasts and social media broadcasts, as well as written blogs.
We originally set up the award in 2017 in memory of late WAY member Helen Bailey, who helped so many young widows and widowers through her own blog Planet Grief and through her book When Bad Things Happen in Good Bikinis, before her untimely death ten years ago.
Just as the Helen Bailey Blog Award has celebrated the voices of young widowed people in writing over the last nine years in memory of WAY member and writer Helen Bailey, the award will now also recognise young widowed people who are choosing to share their experiences through podcasts, Instagram, TikTok and other digital platforms too.
Here’s a little bit about our brilliant nominees and what they have been nominated for:
Lisa
Nominated for @the_widowdiaries on Instagram and TikTok
“I’m a 34-year-old solo mum of three from Glasgow. I was widowed in 2023 when my husband, Alan, died by suicide, leaving me to navigate complex grief, trauma and solo parenthood whilst raising three young children.
I initially started sharing my experiences online as a way of processing my own loss, but quickly realised how many others felt isolated in their grief. Through The Widow Diaries, I speak openly about widowhood, suicide bereavement, mental health and rebuilding life after tragedy. My content has reached millions of people worldwide, but for me it has never been about followers. My goal has always been to help even one person feel less alone.
Alongside my advocacy work, I have appeared in UK and US media, spoken publicly about suicide prevention, and contributed to podcasts and events focused on grief and mental health. This year, I was honoured to be named Scottish Influencer of the Year in the Inspiration category.
Over the past three years, I have also discovered a passion for writing and recently completed my debut novel, The Widow Diaries: Grieving and Ghosted, inspired by my experiences of loss, healing and hope.
Being nominated for the Helen Bailey Award means so much to me. Helen's legacy has inspired countless widows, and as a first-time novelist, I feel incredibly honoured to be recognised in her name.”
Michelle
Nominated for her blog https://www.michellerigden.com/my-blog
“In 2023, my world changed forever when my husband Gareth died from cancer, leaving me to navigate the unexpected role of widowhood. In the months and years that followed, I discovered that grief is not a destination but an ongoing journey, continually asking us to grow, adapt and discover courage we never dared imagine we possessed.
Seeking connection, understanding and hope, I found support through WAY, where I discovered a community that truly understood life after loss. Alongside that journey, I began writing “Michelle’s Mumbles” – honest reflections on grief, healing, hope and the determination to keep living fully, even when life feels broken.
Being nominated for the Helen Bailey Award last year was both humbling and deeply moving. Since then, life has delivered further heartbreak, and I have experienced the loss of another significant relationship, leaving me feeling as though I have been widowed twice in just two years. Love after loss had once been hard to imagine, interesting to navigate, and continues to shape and serve me despite its unexpectedly short timeline.
Yet through every chapter, writing has remained my place of healing. My blog continues to explore the realities of love, loss, resilience and rediscovering joy amongst life’s broken pieces. I am delighted and deeply grateful to have been nominated once again for the Helen Bailey Award. To know that my words have found a place to sit alongside others on their own journeys brings me gratitude and hope, by the bucketful.
If my words help even one person feel less alone, more hopeful or more understood, then every mumble has been worthwhile.”
Rachel
Nominated for her blog https://hellorachel.substack.com/
“My husband Mark died in January 2025, nine months after being diagnosed with late-stage bowel cancer at 46. He went from running half marathons to lying in a hospice bed within a year. Our children were 8, 11 and 13 years old.
When he was dying, it tortured him to leave me with nothing. After he died, I found some bullet points on his laptop:
- Find your tribe and have some fun
- Let the kids be your tribe too
- Love and be loved
- Try not to be a rock too often
I started writing my Substack to understand the truth of our situation. I didn’t want to be told how to do grief, only to tell others what it felt like to be in it and really feel it. Because not having Mark there to talk with was the most unimaginably painful part about it.
I didn’t write for anyone else; it was an attempt at being selfish. Then friends and family started telling me it helped them. They sent messages like, "Oh god, you made me cry at work again. Why do I open your Substack at my desk?"
Being nominated for this award means that the honesty I’e been trying to hold onto inside myself has found its way to others. I’m grateful and humbled. I never imagined anyone would be interested in what I had to say. Mark would have seen it coming and he’d be delighted.”
Rosie
Nominated for her Podcast WidowedAF
“My husband Ben died in a scuba diving accident in 2018 when I was 37, leaving me to raise our three young children alone. In the months and years that followed, one of the things that helped me most was hearing other widowed people talk openly about their experiences. It made me realise I wasn’t the only one struggling with the thoughts, feelings and challenges that come with grief.
I started the Podcast Widowed AF because I believe in the power of shared stories. What began as an attempt to make sense of my own grief has grown into a podcast and community that reaches widowed people in more than 80 countries around the world.
Through conversations that are funny, heartbreaking, raw and honest, Widowed AF explores the realities of life after loss, tackling everything from solo parenting and dating to identity, friendship and rebuilding a life that looks nothing like the one you planned.
In 2025, Widowed AF won Gold for Best Interview at the British Podcast Awards, recognising the impact of honest storytelling and shared experiences.
The podcast is built on the idea that there is strength in dropping the mask and saying, “This is me. This is what it feels like.” Through sharing these stories, I hope others feel seen, understood and a little less alone. I have also written a book, Widowed As F**k.
Being nominated for the Helen Bailey Award is incredibly special. WAY was one of the first places I found after Ben died, and the support of other widowed people helped me navigate some of the darkest days of my life. Widowed AF was born from a need to connect with others who understood what this life feels like. Knowing that those conversations have helped other widowed people feel seen, understood and a little less alone means more to me than I can say.”
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