2022 WINNERS

OFFICIAL PARTNER

SUPPORTING & CATEGORY PARTNERS 2023

PUBLIC CATEGORY WINNERS

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

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SIR LENNY HENRY CBE

Sir Lenny Henry is a true legend of British comedy. From Tiswas to The Lenny Henry Show, Henry is a comfortingly familiar presence on British television. In 1985, alongside fellow comedy writer Richard Curtis, Henry established Comic Relief: a charity that continues to thrive and aid some of the world’s most vulnerable. In 2009, he made his Shakespearean debut, playing the titular role in a production of Othello to widespread critical acclaim. Over the years, Henry’s achievements have been recognised through a variety of accolades, including a CBE, an honorary doctorate from Nottingham Trent University and, of course, a knighthood in 2015.

MUSIC ARTIST

EMELI SANDÉ

A multi-award-winning singer-songwriter, Sandé inspires people across the world with her powerful music, finding influences in legendary artists such as Nina Simone and Lauryn Hill. Having grown up in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Sandé has spoken openly about how difficult it was to be the only mixed-race family around and how she found her identity in music. Now, having performed at the White House and the Olympics, she continues to trailblaze in the stead of her heroes.

INSPIRATIONAL PUBLIC FIGURE

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JOHANNES RADEBE

A dancer, choreographer and TV personality, Radebe is much-loved for his starring role on Strictly Come Dancing and has also made appearances on the game-changing RuPaul’s Drag Race. Originally from South Africa, Radebe has spoken out about homophobic bullying he experienced at school and held honest discussions about racial profiling and his experiences of being a Black man in the UK in order to take these issues forward and help create change.

ONLINE INFLUENCER

EVERYDAY RACISM

Authors of The Mixed-Race Experience: Reflections and Revelations on Multicultural Identity, anti-racism educators and founders of the Everyday Racism book club, sisters Naomi and Natalie Evans have been using their 200,000-strong Instagram audience to promote anti-racist advocacy. The sisters began by documenting a racist incident on the train and shared the video to social media to help raise awareness of racism in the UK. After the murder of George Floyd, Naomi and Natalie felt a growing need to highlight the prevalence of the everyday racism at play as well as share educational anti-racism resources to support people’s learning.

PRESENTER, JOURNALIST OR HOST

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ALISON HAMMOND

One of British TV’s most-loved stars, the Bafta-nominated Brummie has been bringing joy to our screens through Big Brother, Loose Women, This Morning and more shows. In the Big Issue’s anthology book Letter to My Younger Self, Hammond spoke about her journey and her new book on Black history, Black in Time: The Most Awesome Black Britons from Yesterday which looks into the history of Black scientists, activists, musicians and politicians in the UK.

MEDIA PROGRESS MOMENT

AZEEM RAFIQ AND THE YORKSHIRE COUNTY CRICKET CLUB

This year the cricketer took the brave decision to speak out publicly about the racism he experienced during his time at YCCC and the impact these experiences had on his mental health. The specifics of Rafiq’s experiences were harrowing, but shined a light onto the engrained nature of racism within sports in the UK. This resulted in the resignation of many board members, public apologies and the admittance from officials that the club was institutionally racist. News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy spoke out about this also, stating ‘There will barely be a brown-skinned person in Britain who hasn’t felt that smarting, holding-back-the-tears feeling, while being told it was just banter.’

SPORTS PERSONALITY

DINA ASHER-SMITH

The fastest woman in British history, Dina Asher-Smith is a European and World champion sprinter. The 100m and 200m athlete has used her platform to speak candidly and honestly about her experiences of racism in order to advance the bringing about of real change with the belief that expressing yourself is a fundamental human right.

PUBLIC SERVICE OR CAMPAIGNER

MUNIRA WILSON MP

Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson has been serving as the spokesperson for education since 2021, using her political platform to campaign against violence, advocate for mental health services and speak out on behalf of refugee rights. Her mother fled her homeland of Zanzibar during the revolution, becoming stateless. Wilson stated that, ‘I couldn’t have become an MP without their hard work and I don’t see why I should turn around and deny that opportunity to other people who want to come and do that.’

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO COMMUNITIES

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HAU-YU TAM

Tam 譚巧瑜 is a community worker and campaigner, and a councillor in Lewisham. She co-founded and works as Head of Campaigns at End Violence and Racism Against ESEA Communities – an intergenerational anti-racism organisation using intersectional approaches and building solidarity to educate on, redress and prevent structural racism and inequalities harming East and Southeast Asian communities. Tam studied literature at the University of St Andrews and international politics and diplomacy at SOAS, University of London.

CHARITY OR COMMUNITY INITIATIVE

MUSLIM COUNCIL OF BRITAIN

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is the UK’s largest and most diverse national Muslim umbrella organisation with more than 500 members including mosques, schools, charitable associations and professional networks. Their mission is to empower Muslim communities to achieve a just, cohesive and successful British society. Founded in 1997, they lead community projects and initiatives around the country and publish reports, guidelines and resources to inform the mainstream discourse on British Muslims.

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC

JAMAL EDWARDS MBE

Jamal Edwards MBE rose to fame after launching SB.TV, a music platform which he started from his bedroom, aged 15. The success of SB.TV has seen expand the media company and also launch a record label, Just Jam. Edwards was made an MBE in the 2014 New Year Honours list for services to music.

SPORTS TRAILBLAZER

MO FARAH

Mo Farah is quite simply one Britain’s best-loved athletes; so much so, that he even has a trademark celebratory dance move! Originally a Somali refugee, Farah has gone on to become the most successful British track athlete in the history of the modern Olympic Games. Specialising in distance running, he is also the most decorated athlete in the history of British athletics. At the 2012 Olympic games, he won Team GB’s first ever 10,000m gold medal. This led to him gaining a CBE in 2013 and, of course, a dedicated golden post box in his home town of Isleworth in Hounslow, Greater London.

BUSINESS CATEGORY WINNERS

OUTSTANDING EMPLOYER

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LLOYD'S BANKING GROUP

This company is committed to building a fully inclusive environment, reflective of the society its serve, where all colleagues can fulfil their potential. Getting this right is at the heart of its purpose to Help Britain Prosper. They are proud to have been the first FTSE 100 company to set targets to increase ethnic diversity at senior levels. Its ethnicity strategy is led from the top and supported by comprehensive plans to ensure it makes sustainable progress, including targeted career development interventions, focus on increasing visibility of role models, building cultural awareness and understanding, and advocacy across the workforce. In 2020 they launched a Race Action Plan to accelerate cultural change, recruitment and progression and, more widely, to support Black communities.

FUTURE LEADER

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RACHEL HENRY, BOOTS

Working at Boots for four years and counting, Henry started on the online team before moving to marketing. Taking on the role of DE&I lead, she has worked to ensure all customers feel represented and celebrated. Leading on the first external creative diversity audit and being a reverse mentor to the MD (18 months and counting), she uses her platform to continue the conversation and push boundaries. Leading the business with its first ever Black History Month campaign and working with stakeholders to bring in company record-breaking Black-owned brands, Henry continues to use her lived experience to amplify the voices of marginalised communities.

INSPIRATIONAL LEADER

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LEON DONALD, TESCO

Donald has ten years of retail experience across big box, e-commerce, discount and telecoms with functional expertise spanning operations, commercial buying and logistics. Leon works for Tesco and is currently the Head of Buying and Supply Chain for Tesco Mobile, as well as the Black Action Project Leader for the Tesco group. Leon is a diversity, equity and inclusion ambassador and in April featured in the Times through his work to dismantle systemic racism. Donald also completed an MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School in 2020 to turn his aspirations to make a difference within society into a reality.

WORKPLACE HERO

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TOLU FALADE, BP

Falade has 10 years of experience in the energy industry and is a former Powerful Media Top 100 Future Leader. A tireless advocate for D&I, he leads BP’s Positively Ethnic Network (PEN) and has been instrumental in growing it to more than 800 members, leading several sessions with key stakeholders and C-suite leaders towards progressing commitments in line with BP’s Framework for Action. Falade also chairs the AFBE Ethnic Leaders Network, creating a forum for adopting best practices in the engineering sector. As Co-chair of BP’s wellbeing network, he actively advocates for policies and initiatives to improve wellbeing in the offshore workforce.

NETWORK GROUP (ERG)

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RACE TOGETHER, NATIONWIDE BUILDING SOCIETY

The building society’s ethnicity network, Race Together, went through a rebrand and internal change journey in 2020. The network is now set up into working groups to ensure they deliver on their priorities. They support members and colleagues to champion diversity at a society-wide level and accelerate systemic change to make Nationwide a more inclusive place for all, regardless of race or ethnicity. By championing the power of multiculturalism, bringing together diverse voices, actively creating development opportunities, producing educational content, providing safe spaces and encouraging people to speak up respectfully, they are raising awareness of the issues that affects their members to influence change.

CHAMPION (ALLY)

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PAUL PLEWMAN, MACQUARIE

Plewman is the CEO for Macquarie Group in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. As part of his role, he is accountable for driving diversity, equity and inclusion and has put this at the heart of his leadership and firmly on the global agenda. Plewman is a passionate believer in creating a fairer workplace, citing his daughter, who has a disability, as his inspiration for looking differently at the world. He launched an Ethnicity Vision in 2020 to ensure that the company creates racial equity, empowering their people to achieve success and address bias. Plewman is also on the board of the Global Macquarie Foundation, which is focused on creating equity in communities. Macquarie’s philanthropic arm takes an action-oriented approach in supporting community organisations, working to create a fairer, more equitable society, while internally focusing on creating a fairer, more equitable workplace that allows all staff to thrive.

EXCEPTIONAL INCLUSION

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ADE RAWCLIFFE, ITV

Rawcliffe is the Group Director of Diversity and Inclusion at ITV. She is the first Diversity Director to be on the Management Board of a FTSE 100 company. She has responsibility for all diversity and inclusion-related matters across the group, including leading, developing and delivering ITV’s D&I strategy. Prior to joining ITV, she led the Creative Diversity team at Channel 4, spearheading the delivery of its award winning 360° Diversity Charter. Rawcliffe sits on the board of Bafta, chairing its Learning, Inclusion and Talent committee, is a Trustee of The National Trust and a Board member of TimesUp UK.