Burberry British Diversity Awards Reveals 2023’s Winners

The organizers of the Burberry British Diversity Awards revealed 2023’s Diversity and Inclusion champions last night (22 March) at Grosvenor House in London. The major celebration welcomed more than 1,000 celebrities and influential business leaders as the awards honored those inspiring change across diversity and inclusion.

Music icon Eméli Sande wowed the audience with some of her greatest hits, while Labour MP Dawn Butler delivered a powerful speech on the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion. Hosted by June Sarpong OBE and Dr Ranj Singh, the event was attended by the likes of Suranne Jones, Denise Welch and several cast-members of the Netflix smash-hit Heartstopper as corporate, charity, community and celebrity icons won big at the glamorous event.

Multi platinum-selling music artist Paloma Faith presented a prestigious award to popular broadcaster Alison Hammond. This Morning and Loose Women's favorite Hammond led the winners after being recognized for her work highlighting racism, inequality and injustice on major broadcasting platforms and across her social media platforms as Media Champion in the Public Eye. In recent years, Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Westlife singer Mark Feehily and Liverpool FC legend and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher have scooped gongs, with Hammond joining an exclusive list of iconic celebrity names.

OUTSTANDING LGBTQ+ EMPLOYEE NETWORK OF THE YEAR

HSBC UK scooped the Diversity Team of the Year award, and its LGBTQ+ Network Pride won the Outstanding LGBTQIA Network of the Year, which was sponsored by myGwork. "Congratulations to HSBC for scooping this year's Outstanding LGBTQIA Network of the Year, as well as Diversity Team of the Year award, which demonstrate the banking giant's ongoing and inspiring commitment to diversity and inclusion," stated Adrien and Pierre Gaubert, Co-founders of myGwork, who attended the event last night. "We would also like to congratulate all the winners of this year’s awards, as well as all the finalists, many of which are myGwork's corporate partners [including EY, WTW, Kellogg Europe, Fitch Ratings, London Stock Exchange Group, J.P. Morgan, Reckitt, Pfizer, BT, Clifford Chance, etc]." Check out the full list of this year's shortlisted finalists here.

HSBC UK's Pride won the Outstanding LGBTQIA Network of the Year award, sponsored by myGwork.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION CHAMPIONS

Airline giant Virgin Atlantic won Marketing Campaign of the Year for their Gender Identity Policy Campaign, and data analytics leaders Kantar named Company of the Year. Deon Pillay, Head of Marketing and Operations at Legal & General Investment Management, was crowned Diversity Champion of the Year. Pillay has championed LGBTQ+ inclusion for ethnic minorities and supported numerous organisations in launching their LGBTQ Networks, acting as mentor and life coach.

Furthermore, Micro Rainbow won the prestigious Charity of the Year award, presented their award by lead sponsors Burberry. Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, the co-founder of UK Black Pride, took the final prize of the night for Outstanding Commitment to Diversity. The main award honored Opoku-Gyimah for her social and political activism across the UK and United States, after she was named on the list of 100 Great Black Britons in 2020.

The Burberry British Diversity Awards celebrate the individuals and organizations working to promote equality, diversity and inclusion, acknowledging milestones in business, media, politics and grassroots activism. "I'd like to congratulate all of the deserving winners at this year's Burberry-sponsored British Diversity Awards,” stated Burberry British Diversity Awards founder, Linda Riley. “The awards rightly recognize the organizations and individuals who are doing so much to champion diversity in the workplace. It is such an important strand of any business and the winners understand how vital it is. Diversity not only drives up standards and engenders a more cohesive culture but it also helps boost productivity and growth. We have come so far but we are witnessing a worrying increase in intolerance and hate crimes against minorities. That's why we will continue to bang the drum for all things diversity and inclusion to make the UK a better place to live and work for everyone."

“We are very proud to support the British Diversity Awards again this year, recognizing those who are leading the way to a more diverse, equitable and inclusive world. We would like to congratulate the winners and to thank Linda Riley and her team at the British Diversity Awards for making this such a special event,” added Geoffery Williams, Global Vice President of Diversity Equity and Inclusion of Burberry. “We hope that this year’s awards will continue to further, educate, inspire and empower others to drive meaningful change, both in the workplace and beyond.”

2023’S FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

Community Project of the Year: UK Black Pride, sponsored by Sedulo

Head of Diversity of the Year: Cecil Peters at J.P. Morgan, sponsored by 10X Banking

Hero of the Year: Katie Neeves at Cool2BTrans, sponsored by Boots

Diversity in Technology (Disability): Brain in Hand, sponsored by BT

Marketing Campaign of the Year: Gender Identity Policy Campaign by Virgin Atlantic, sponsored by Denovo Legal Services

Sustainability Champion of the Year: Sophie Platts at Entain Group, sponsored by Centrica

Diversity Team of the Year: Inclusion Team at HSBC UK, sponsored by Haleon

Charity of the Year: Micro Rainbow, sponsored by Burberry

Inspirational Role Model of the Year: Hannah Awonuga at Barclays, sponsored by Lockton

Outstanding Employee Network of the Year: Collabor8 at Santander Consumer Finance

Outstanding Disability Network of the Year: Disability & Neurodiversity Employee Resource Groups – AMS, sponsored by EmployAbility

Outstanding Ethnic Diversity Network of the Year: Oliver Wyman at Empowered

Outstanding LGBTQIA Network of the Year: HSBC UK - Pride - sponsored by myGwork

Social Mobility Initiative of the Year: Passport to Change by Virgin Atlantic

HR Champion of the Year: Sharlene John at Selfridges, sponsored by Ruebik

Company of the Year: Kantar, sponsored by National Grid

Diversity Champion of the Year: Deon Pillay at Legal & General Investment Management, sponsored by Leathwaite

Media Champion in the Public Eye: Alison Hammond, sponsored by Greene King

Outstanding Commitment to Diversity: Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, sponsored by Attest

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