The Burberry British Diversity Awards has released its shortlist ahead of the annual ceremony which will take place in London on Wednesday 22 March.
The awards celebrate leading diversity and inclusion champions, recognising achievements over the past year across ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and religious beliefs.
Major businesses such as Virgin Atlantic and NatWest are also nominated in the National Grid Company of the Year category alongside the likes of Wickes and and Swinton Insurance while extraordinary projects like The Wolfpack Project, Football for Change and The 93% Club are all nominees for the Community Project of the Year honour for their work to combat youth loneliness and drive social mobility respectively.
Alison Hammond, Alan Carr, Stormzy and Jill Scott MBE are among the big names nominated in the Greene King Media Champion in the Public Eye category – a prize previously won by Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock and football legend Jamie Carragher.
And the biggest diversity and inclusion event in Britain’s red-carpet calendar also sees nominations for Doctor Who actor Ncuti Gatwa, decorated Paralympian and Strictly Come Dancing star Ellie Simmonds OBE, music icon Little Simz, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan plus comedians John Bishop and Romesh Ranganthan.
The awards ceremony takes place on March 22 at Grosvenor House, London, and will be co-hosted by presenter, Diversity expert and award-winning author June Sarpong OBE plus NHS doctor and BAFTA award-winning television presenter Dr Ranj Singh.
Elsewhere, in a new Diversity in Tech specific to Disability category sponsored by BT, AccessAble goes head-to-head with auticon UK for the top honour.
BT’s chief technology officer Howard Watson said: “We are incredibly proud to be sponsoring the British Diversity Awards for the next three years. We’ve worked together to establish an award that specifically celebrates companies or individuals who creatively use technology to break down barriers and widen participation for people with disabilities.
“Diversity and inclusion is fundamental to our purpose: we connect for good. We believe new technology helps to transform people’s lives for the better. The future of tech must be inclusive and diverse for everyone to benefit and beyond. That’s why we aim to become the world’s most trusted connector of people, devices and machines. Our push to become a more inclusive business will never stop.”
Global oil and gas company BP’s Positive Ethnicity Network (PEN) has been nominated in the Outstanding Ethnic Diversity Network of the Year category alongside the Financial Times’ FT Embrace and Direct Line Group’s REACH networks.
In addition to being the headline sponsor Burberry are also sponsoring the Charity of the Year category, and making a £5,000 donation to the winner; with Micro Rainbow, Sporting Equals and Urban Synergy all in the running.
As well as honouring companies, networks and campaigns the Burberry British Diversity Awards also recognises and celebrates individual contributions through the Hero, Diversity Champion, Inspirational Role Model, HR Champion, and Head of Diversity categories.
Among the individuals Kabir Alam of HSBC UK and Tolu Oke of Amazon Web Services are nominees in the Lockton Inspirational Role Model of the Year Category, whilst Bank of London’s Vania Jussura and Selfridges’ Sharlene John are both contenders for the Ruebik HR Champion of the Year.
Linda Riley, founder of the Burberry British Diversity Awards, added: “We are incredibly proud to once again be recognising and celebrating those organisations, companies and individuals who consistently work to advocate and promote diversity, equality and inclusion.
“In these particularly difficult economic times it is encouraging to see that so many businesses and organisations continue to put diversity and Inclusion in the front and centre of their strategic plans. I’m especially pleased to see an increasing number of organisations doing more to support wellbeing and social mobility.
“Over the past year our nominees have realised great achievements, championing diversity of race, age, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, religious belief or social mobility.
“Our awards ceremony allows us to bring together these inspirational and incredible people and truly celebrate their accomplishments.”
With nominations across 19 categories, the 2023 Burberry British Diversity Awards has established itself as a powerful voice for diversity and inclusion, with this year’s awards recognising the positive impact of marketing, campaigning, media diversity and social mobility representation across the UK.
10x Banking, Attest, BootsUK, BT, Centrica, Greene King, Haleon, Lockton, National Grid and Haleon are all sponsoring categories at the event.
BRITISH DIVERSITY AWARDS 2023 SHORTLIST:
COMMUNITY PROJECT OF THE YEAR
Bring The Power – Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
Hinkley Connection Project -National Grid
I AM: Programme – Unloc supported by Verizon
Northumbria Police and Hedleys College Students Police
Getting on Board
Schools’ Inclusion Alliance
The 93% Club
The Community Impact Initiative CIC
The Wolfpack Project
UK Black Pride
10X BANKING – HEAD OF DIVERSITY OF THE YEAR
Alessandro Storer – OVO
Ama Ocansey -BNP Paribas
Cecil Peters – J.P. Morgan
Dr. María Angélica Pérez – Fitch Ratings
Karen Wiesenekker – British Transport Police
Katherine Gansallo – London Stock Exchange Group
Lisa Waterhouse – National Grid
Megan Cross – Kantar
Melissa Godfray – Jacobs
Raj Jones – Sodexo
Tim Hardy-Lenik – CSG
Zoey Hudson – Govia Thameslink Railway
BOOTS – HERO OF THE YEAR
Amjad Khan – HSBC
Anne Aslett – Elton John Aids Foundation
Anna Dilku – Aviva
Chloe Davies – Lucky Generals
Elizabeth Rimmington – Barclaycard
Jamie Christon – Chester Zoo
John Gillies-Wilkes – Motor Neurone Disease Association
Katie Neeves – Cool2BTrans
Oliver Holmes – Browne Jacobson
Mandy Rico – INvolve
BT – DIVERSITY IN TECH (DISABILITY) OF THE YEAR
AccessAble
Accessercise
auticon UK
BRACI
Brain in Hand
Caretech & Smartbox
Clifford Chance Tech Group
Clu
Code First Girls
Connected Academy
Snap Finger Click
MARKETING CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
#Breakthestereotype-The Glenlivet
Break the Bias Campaign – Wates Group
Fair Pensions For All – NOW: Pensions
Guest How You Guest – IHG Hotels & Resorts
I’m Not Prejudiced, But… – Greene King
Imagine a world… – CPB London
Gender Neutral Uniform Campaign – Virgin Atlantic
No Fixed Address – HSBC UK and Shelter
Say Yes to Rainbow Laces and No To Hate – Chelsea FC
Welcome Inclusion Campaign – ICAEW in collaboration with We are Sunday
CENTRICA – SUSTAINABILITY CHAMPION OF THE YEAR
Abigail Adams – Motion Content Group
Amir Sethu – MS Amlin
Anna Russell – Bupa
Ben Wilson – Association of British Insurers
David Croft – Reckitt
Dominique Santini – CSM Sport & Entertainment
David Pugh – Digital Catapult
Jessica Runicles – Motorsport UK
Julia Meek – Zenobe Energy
Peter Bragg – Canon EMEA
HALEON – DIVERSITY TEAM OF THE YEAR
Be Yourself & Community Team – Virgin Atlantic
Diversity and Inclusion Strategy Team – Govia Thameslink Railway
DE&I Team – OLIVER
DE&I Team – Clarasys
DEI Team – News UK
Diversity Board – Selfridges
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Committee – Sidley Austin LLP
Inclusion Team – HSBC UK
Belonging Team – OVO
Student Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Team – University of Birmingham
BURBERRY – CHARITY OF THE YEAR
Age Exchange
DFN Project SEARCH
Gendered Intelligence
Hidayah UK
Micro Rainbow
NeuroDiversity in Business
Sporting Equals
Technology Community for Racial Equality (TC4RE)
UK Chinese Women Connect
Urban Synergy
LOCKTON – INSPIRATIONAL ROLE MODEL OF THE YEAR
Antonio Bebba – Pfizer
Bobbi Pickard – bp/Trans In The City
David McIntosh – KPMG
Emma Rawlinson – Atlanta Group
Franklin Asante – Coutts
Greg Turner-Smart – Rolls-Royce SMR
Hannah Awonuga – Barclays
Kabir Alam – HSBC UK
Michael Adeniya – UK Black Business Week & Show
Roianne Nedd – Oliver Wyman
Tolu Oke – Amazon Web Services
Vishal Desai – MS Amlin
OUTSTANDING EMPLOYEE NETWORK OF THE YEAR
Collabor8 – Santander Consumer Finance
Defence Women’s Network
Greene Sky – Greene King
Health & Wellbeing Network – Legal & General
LSEG WIN (Women Inspired Network) – London Stock Exchange Group
Pride Network – Sage
Forces Community Network – Centrica
Social Mobility Network – KPMG
WiNG (Women in National Grid) – National Grid
Inclusion Council – Ketchum UK, part of Omnicom Group
OUTSTANDING DISABILITY NETWORK OF THE YEAR
Ability – Mills & Reeve
Ability – Greene King
Ability UK – HSBC UK
Able2 Network – BT
Disability & NeuroDiversity Employee Resource Groups – AMS
Disability Staff Network – University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust
Enable – Clifford Chance
NeuroDiversity & Disability Employee Network – Direct Line Group
The Adapt Network – Atos
The Association of Disabled Lawyer
OUTSTANDING ETHNIC DIVERSITY NETWORK OF THE YEAR
EMPOWERED – Oliver Wyman
Ethnic Diversity Network – BT
FT Embrace – Financial Times
LEAD Network (Latin@s for Empowerment, Advancement and Development) – London Stock Exchange Group
Mosaic Employee Resource Group – Dell Technologies
Multicultural Inclusion Network (MCIN) – WTW
Multicultural Network (MCN) – NatWest
Positive Ethnicity Network (PEN) – bp
REACH – Direct Line Group
Unity – Greene King
OUTSTANDING LGBTQI+ NETWORK OF THE YEAR
Archway – Network Rail
bp Pride – bp
Breathe Network – KPMG
Pride – HSBC UK
Pride Alliance UK – Walgreens Boots Alliance
Prism – Post Office
Proud FT – Financial Times
PrOWd – Oliver Wyman
UK LGBT+ Network – WTW
Unity – EY
SOCIAL MOBILITY INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR
Big Voice London
Clu
Football For Change
Passport to Change – Virgin Atlantic
Pathways to Consulting – Oliver Wyman, McKinsey, Bain, and BCG
Social Mobility Action Plan – Simmons & Simmons LLP
Social Mobility Network – KPMG
Social Mobility Strategy – Mishcon de Reya LLP
The Changing Face of Technology – Atos
The Integrated Vicious Circle Campaign – HSBC UK
RUEBIK – HR CHAMPION OF THE YEAR
Ciprian Arhire – Entain Group
Claire Hope – IHG Hotels and Resorts
Genevieve Glover – Barchester Healthcare
Hannah Spencer – National Grid
Jordana Semaan – Investcorp
Marie-Helene Tyack – Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty
Rebecca Roberts – Kellogg Europe
Sanchia Alasia – London South Bank University Group
Sharlene John – Selfridges
Vania Jussura – The Bank of London
NATIONAL GRID – COMPANY OF THE YEAR
Deutsche Bank
Kantar
London South Bank University Group
NatWest
Silicon Valley Bank UK
SThree plc
Swinton Insurance
Virgin Atlantic
Wickes
WTW
DIVERSITY CHAMPION OF THE YEAR
Bano Sheikh – KPMG
Deepa Shah – Bupa
Deon Pillay – Legal & General Investment Management
Eimear O’Connor – Form3
Emily Hamilton – RS Group PLC
Fraser Longden – Wickes
Jennifer Tippin – NatWest
Olivia Grant – Reed Smith
Romi Savova – PensionBee
Simon Lem – Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Victoria Anderson – Big Voice London
Georgia Dawson – Freshfields
GREENE KING – MEDIA CHAMPION IN THE PUBLIC EYE
Alan Carr – Comedian, broadcaster and writer
Alison Hammond – TV Personality
Ellie Simmonds OBE – Paralympian
Jill Scott MBE – Professional footballer
John Bishop – Comedian
Little Simz – Musician
Ncuti Gatwa – Actor
Romesh Ranganathan – Actor and comedian
Sadiq Khan – Mayor of London
Stormzy – Musician
