Member Article

Nominations open for 11th Annual First Women Awards - Clare Balding to host

Nominations are now open for the 11th annual First Women Awards, created by Real Business and supported by the CBI. The 2015 awards ceremony will be hosted by presenter, writer and BAFTA-winning broadcaster Clare Balding.

The awards are central to the First Women Programme, which was created to bring together and celebrate the success of senior-level businesswomen and professionals from a wide variety of often male-dominated sectors.

The First Women Awards feature 12 categories ranging from Public Service and Finance to Science & Technology. This year, two new categories have been introduced - First Woman in Entrepreneurship and Young Achiever of the Year, which celebrates successful women under 35.

First Women winners are known for their ongoing successes, as demonstrated by Melanie Leach, last year’s First Woman in Media. Previously MD of Twofour Broadcast, she has since been appointed Chief Executive of the Twofour Group.

Other 2014 winners included First Woman in Public Service recipient Danielle Cotton, Assistant Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, and First Woman in Finance winner Sam Smith, CEO of FinnCap. Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Winners are chosen by a 20-strong judging panel. Confirmed judges include Amanda Phillips, Director at AP Consulting, who sat on former City of London Lord Mayor Fiona Woolf’s Diversity Advisory Panel, and Brenda Trenowden, Head of the Financial Institutions Group for Europe and the Global Head of Funds for ANZ.

Katja Hall, CBI Deputy Director-General, commented: “Celebrating ground-breaking women across the UK helps inspire others. For businesses, harnessing talent from a diverse group of people is an essential ingredient for success. The CBI is proud to be supporting the First Women Awards.”

Amy Carroll, Group Editor at Caspian Media, added: “The First Women Awards are all about recognising top-level female talent. Each year our winners demonstrate how many of the previously existing workplace barriers women have overcome. The night is an important chance to celebrate this.”

Entries close on 10th April. Winners will be announced at the annual awards ceremony, taking place at the London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square on Thursday 11th June, 2015.

The awards categories are as follows:

• Engineering
• Manufacturing
• Tourism & Leisure
• Finance
• Science & Technology
• Media
• Retail & Consumer
• The Built Environment
• Public Service
• Business Services
• Young Achiever of the Year
• Entrepreneurship

Nominations can also be made for:

• Lifetime Achievement
• First Women Business of the Year

This First Women Awards will follow the inaugural First Women Summit, a one day conference taking place at The Montcalm Hotel, Mayfair, on Wednesday 4th February, 2015.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by David Martin .