BISHOP of Liverpool James Jones is the Liverpool Post Leader of the Year for 2012.

The accolade, in recognition of his extraordinary achievement in chairing the Hillsborough Independent Panel, was the highlight of an exclusive awards ceremony held before an invited audience of 140 people at the Museum of Liverpool last Thursday night.

The panel’s findings, after sifting through thousands of documents on the tragedy and its aftermath, have finally cleared Liverpool fans of any blame in the 1989 disaster.

Accepting the award from Trinity Mirror North West Managing Director Steve Anderson-Dixon, Bishop James said: “I accept this on behalf of the 96 who died, mindful of them and mindful of their families.

“Bringing these documents into the light showed more than I realised at the time that truth does indeed have its own pressure. That truth now must lead to justice, and we look forward to that day as well.”

Awards were made across a dozen categories, see panel, right, to winners chosen from the 250 key city region figures our readers nominated to feature in our 2012 Liverpool Leaders magazine, distributed free in the Liverpool Post last month.

The event was sponsored by the University of Liverpool Management School, whose Director, Professor Murray Dalziel, said it celebrated the very best examples of leadership in the region.

“We offer our congratulations to the worthy winners whose leadership qualities are typical of those we aim to instil in our students at the University’s Management School,” said Professor Dalziel.

“As a global leader in management education, it’s rewarding for us to sponsor awards that recognise the huge contributions made by the region’s leaders to the success of their own sectors, the economy, and the region as a whole.”

Professor Dalziel sat on the judging panel for the awards, along with the university’s Director of Partnerships and Innovation John Flamson, broadcaster and journalist Peter Sissons, Channel 4 founder Sir Jeremy Isaacs and Liverpool One project director Rod Holmes.

The Cheviot Young Leader of the Year award went to Cathy Elliott, CEO of the Community Foundation for Merseyside.

Simon Walker, senior partner at category sponsor Cheviot Asset Management, said the shortlist demonstrated the quality of the city’s emerging leaders.

He added: “The achievements of the eventual winner, Cathy Elliott, more than justified her choice. Cathy’s work to support philanthropy continues an illustrious and historic tradition of giving in this city which vividly demonstrates the social good which can come from enterprise and wealth creation.”

City PR company Paver Smith sponsored the Knowledge Leader category, won by Professor Janet Hemingway, director of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

Paver Smith Managing Partner Jon Brown said any of the four shortlisted knowledge sector leaders would have been a worthy winner, as each had left an indelible imprint on the city.

He added: “I was delighted that Professor Janet Hemingway should emerge as winner. Her work – and that of her colleagues – can be described without any exaggeration as globally significant and world-leading, benefiting literally millions of people in the developing world.”

Professor Hemingway was out of the country and unable to attend the ceremony, but has now received her award, and told the Liverpool Post: "I am delighted to receive this award which recognises the leadership role in infectious diseases research and treatment that the management of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine has locally, nationally and internationally."

The Pershing Professional Leader of the Year went to Lisa Greenhalgh, chief operating officer of Merseyside Special Investment Fund.

Chris Hornsby, Director of Pershing Operations in Liverpool, who presented the award, said: “''Pershing and BNY Mellon are very proud to have Liverpool as one of its key operational locations and to be associated with such a wealth of talent in the region. We would like to congratulate all those nominated and especially Lisa and we look forward to being associated with the event next year. ''

National Museums Liverpool were the venue sponsors for the event. NML’s Head of Catering and Events, Melanie Lewis, said the Museum of Liverpool was the ideal venue for our inaugural Leaders Awards, and it had been exciting for them to be involved.

She added: “The Museum of Liverpool marks the achievements of Liverpool people in a wide range of fields, so it was particularly apt that the Awards were held here to celebrate the work of business leaders from across the Liverpool City Region. The evening was a great success, and we congratulate all the nominees and winners.”