The National Diversity Awards is an awards ceremony which honours positive role models, entrepreneurs and community organisations across several different strands within the equality and diversity sector. It is held annually in various venues across the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Founded by CEO, Paul Sesay, the National Diversity Awards launched in 2012. The National Diversity Awards 2019 took place at The Anglican Cathedral in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 20 September 2019.

Award strands and categories

The awards are honoured to individuals, charities and community organisations across five different strands: Age; Disability; Gender; LGBT; and Race, Faith and Religion. The National Diversity Award categories include the Positive Role Model Award, the Community Organisation award, the Entrepreneur of Excellence Award, the Diverse Company award and Lifetime Achiever award. Both the Positive Role Model Award and the Community Organisation Award are split into 5 individual categories, each representing an individual strand of diversity including Age, Disability, Gender, LGBT, Race/Faith/Religion. The Community Organisation category also has an additional multi-strand award. The Entrepreneur of Excellence award "recognises individuals who have best demonstrated managerial expertise in assembling resources, creating an organisation, decision making under uncertainty, being forward looking, and creatively solving problems." In addition to this, the Diverse Company award is an individual honour which recognises a company’s commitment to encouraging "people from the most deprived areas to further their careers" The prestigious Lifetime Achiever award recognises a person’s "significant, innovative and cumulatively outstanding contributions to enhancing the practice of equality and diversity, devoting a major portion of their professional career to the cause."

Nominations and judges

Nominations for the National Diversity Awards typically run between February and June of each year, with the awards being held annually in September. The National Diversity Awards are judged each year by esteemed and highly experienced diversity professionals across the United Kingdom. Judges include Carol Jordan Head of Planning at ITV News, Manisha Mehrotra of Bloomberg LP, Former international Paralympian Ade Adepitan, Comedian and TV Presenter Alex Brooker, Writer, Director & Actor Jake Graf, and Writer, Activist and TV Presenter Katie Piper. Judges participate in an annual evaluation of all nominees with their shortlist being announced in July and their official award category winners being announced annually at the National Diversity Awards ceremony.

Hosts

2012 saw the launch of the National Diversity Awards and was hosted by Irish television presenter and winner of the second series of

Big Brother Big Brother may refer to: * a brother senior in birth order Literature * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' * ''Big Brother'' (magazine), a skateboarding culture magazine * ' ...

, Brian Dowling. In 2013, Dowling was invited back to host the awards and was joined by co-host and

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six year ...

presenter,

Cerrie Burnell Claire "Cerrie" Burnell (born 30 August 1979) is an English actress, singer, playwright, children's author, and former television presenter for the BBC children's channel CBeebies. In 2018, she portrayed the role of Penny Stevenson in the BBC s ...

, who was previously a celebrity patron of the event in 2012. Dowling and Burnell were the official hosts of the National Diversity Awards 2014. In 2015, Dowling was invited to yet again host the awards and was joined by co-host and

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

presenter,

Charlene White Charlene Denise White (born 22 June 1980) is a British television broadcaster, journalist and presenter, best known for presenting ''ITV News'' programmes. She has been an anchor on '' Loose Women'' since 2021.The Midland Hotel in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

on 21 September 2012, before moving to The Queens Hotel in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on 20 September 2013. The Awards were then taken to the city's capital where the 2014 ceremony was held in The Hurlingham Club in London on 26 September. The National Diversity Awards 2015 took place in The Anglican Cathedral in

on 18 September.

Celebrity patrons

Since its launch in 2012, the National Diversity Awards has attracted support from several celebrity patrons who either represent or support the equality and diversity sector. Amongst the National Diversity Awards celebrity patrons are contemporary R&B and hip hop artist,

Misha B Misha Amber Bryan (born 10 February 1992), known by her stage name Misha B, is a British singer. She rose to notability as a finalist on the eighth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2011, where she finished in fourth place. Several sources have no ...

Peter Tatchell Peter Gary Tatchell (born 25 January 1952) is an Australian-born British human rights campaigner, best known for his work with LGBT social movements. Tatchell was selected as the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party's Parliament of the United Kingdo ...

; wheelchair Paralympic Quad double Gold medallist, Peter Norfolk OBE; Paralympic Gold medallist, cyclist and former swimmer,

Jody Cundy Jody Alan Cundy (born 14 October 1978) is a British cyclist and former swimmer from Wisbech, England. He has represented Great Britain at eight Summer Paralympics winning nine Gold, one Silver and three Bronze medals across swimming and cycling ...

; Paralympian volleyball player, Claire Harvey; stars of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

television documentary,

My Transsexual Summer ''My Transsexual Summer'' is a British List of reality television programs#Documentary style, documentary-style reality series about seven transgender people in different stages of Transitioning (transgender), transition. For five weekends in t ...

, Drew-Ashlyn Cunningham and Lewis Hancox; and transsexual beauty queen, Jackie Green. Television presenter

was also a celebrity patron of the National Diversity Awards before taking on co-hosting duties with Brian Dowling in 2013.

Celebrity endorsers

The National Diversity Awards has received a number of endorsements from celebrities across the

, including

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

, who said: "The UK is becoming more and more diverse. It is valuable that a national event is being held to celebrate our differences. Even now in today’s modern society we are still tackling issues of prejudice and discrimination so it is important to come together and focus on those who have demonstrated an outstanding work ethic in order to enhance equality, diversity and inclusion. I am sure The National Diversity Awards will have nothing but a positive outcome for years to come, I wish the event every success." R&B and soul singer,

Beverley Knight Beverley Knight (born Beverley Anne Smith, 22 March 1973) is an English singer, songwriter, actress and radio personality. She released her first album, ''The B-Funk'', in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke ...

, is also an endorser of The National Diversity Awards, who supported the event by saying, "I love the idea that there is an awards ceremony that celebrates our differences and their positive effect on all our lives." Other celebrities to give public backing towards the National Diversity Awards include

Brian Blessed Brian Blessed ( ; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor. He is known for his distinctive bushy beard, booming voice, and exuberant personality and performances. He portrayed PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars''; Augustus in the 1976 BBC television ...

Katie Piper Kate Elizabeth Sutton (née Piper; born 12 October 1983) is an English writer, activist, television presenter and model from Andover, Hampshire. In March 2008, her ex-boyfriend raped her and stabbed her several times in the arms. Two days late ...

Trevor Nelson Trevor Ricardo Nelson, MBE (born 7 January 1964) is an English DJ and radio presenter. He is best known for presenting a range of shows across BBC Radio. Early life Born in Hackney to a family of St Lucian heritage, Nelson attended Centra ...

Meera Syal Meera Syal FRSL (born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is an English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and by portraying Sanjeev's grandmoth ...

, Gareth Thomas,

Javine Hylton Javine Dionne Hylton (born 27 December 1981), often known simply as Javine, is a retired English singer and songwriter. She gained recognition on ITV's '' Popstars: The Rivals'' and represented the UK at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest in Ky ...

Gina Yashere Regina Obedapo Iyashere (born 6 April 1974) is a British comedian, actress and writer who has made numerous appearances on British and American television. She co-created the American sitcom '' Bob Hearts Abishola'', on which she plays a support ...

Saira Choudhry Saira Choudhry (born July 1982) is a British actress. She is best known for portraying Saira in BBC's ''Life'', Naila in ITV's ''Coronation Street'' and Anita Roy in ''Hollyoaks'' and Tegan in Paul Abbott's '' No Offence''. Early life Saira C ...

Lemar Lemar Obika (born 4 April 1978), known mononymously as Lemar, is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. Initially rising to fame after finishing third on the Fame Academy (series 1), first series of British talent show ''Fame Acade ...

Ross Adams Ross Adams (born 5 May 1984) is an English actor, known for portraying the role of Scott Drinkwell in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'' from 2015 to 2024, for which he won the British Soap Award for Best Male Dramatic Performance for in ...

Philip Olivier Philip Lawrence Borg-Olivier (born 4 June 1980) is a British actor, model and stage performer best known for playing the role of Tim "Tinhead" O'Leary in the soap opera ''Brookside''. Career Olivier's first role was in 1995 in the Channel 4 ...

Tessa Sanderson Theresa Ione Sanderson (born 14 March 1956) is a British former javelin thrower. She appeared in every Summer Olympic Games, Summer Olympics from 1976 to 1996, winning the gold medal in the Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Women's ja ...

Chris Boardman Christopher Miles Boardman, (born 26 August 1968) is an English former racing cyclist. A time trial and prologue specialist, Boardman won the inaugural men's World time trial championship in 1994, won the individual pursuit gold medal at the 1 ...

Ade Adepitan Adedoyin Olayiwola "Ade" Adepitan (; born 27 March 1973) is a Nigerian-born British television presenter and wheelchair basketball player. As a presenter, he has hosted a range of travel documentaries and sports programmes for BBC television. A ...

Danny Crates Daniel Brian Crates (born 9 February 1973) is a British former athlete, who specialised in 800m. He is a former Paralympic world record holder in this event, and won gold medals in a number of international competitions, including the Paralympi ...

Karen Darke Karen Darke, , FRSGS (born 25 June 1971) is a British paralympic cyclist, paratriathlete, adventurer and author. She competed at the 2016 Rio Paralympics winning Gold in the Women's road time trial, following her success in the 2012 London Pa ...

Sarah Storey Dame Sarah Joanne Storey (née Bailey; born 26 October 1977) is a British cyclist and swimmer, a multiple gold medallist in the Paralympic Games, and six times British (able-bodied) national track champion (2 × Pursuit, 1 × Points, 3 × Team ...

, Barney Storey

Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British Jamaicans, British-Jamaican comedian, actor and writer. He gained success as a Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ' ...

Tom Daley Thomas Robert Daley (born 21 May 1994) is an English retired diver, YouTuber and television personality. He is an Olympic champion in the men's synchronised 10-metre platform event at the 2020 Olympics and double world champion in the FI ...

, Ashley Walters, Letitia Hector,

Alex Beresford Alexander Beresford (born 17 October 1980) is an English weather presenter employed by ITV.

and

Amal Fashanu Amal Fashanu is a presenter, journalist, fashion designer and activist against homophobia in sport. She produced a BBC3 documentary ''Britain's Gay Footballers.'' She is the founder and CEO of the Justin Fashanu Foundation, as well as Black He ...

Sponsors, media Sponsors and associates

The National Diversity Awards has been supported by current headline sponsor,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

, since its launch in 2012. Other organisations to have supported the National Diversity Awards through sponsorship include The Diversity Group, I Spoil U Media,

Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds B ...

, MI5 Security Service, Penna plc, The Army,

PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a Multinational corporation, multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Fo ...

Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

, London School of Academics,

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. Liverpool has had a local authority since 1207, which has been reformed on numerous ...

Mouchel Mouchel Group, originally known as L. G. Mouchel & Partners Ltd, was an infrastructure and business services company headquartered in Woking, United Kingdom. It provided advisory, design, project delivery and managed services associated with i ...

Kier Group Kier Group plc is a British construction, services and property group active in building and civil engineering, support services, and the Private Finance Initiative. Founded in 1928 in Stoke-on-Trent it initially specialised in concrete enginee ...

Financial Ombudsman Service The Financial Ombudsman Service is an ombudsman in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2000, and given statutory powers in 2001 by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, to help settle disputes between consumers and UK-based busi ...

The Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

, ThoughtWorks, Riverside Housing, Easy Internet Solutions, Veredus, PSS, Cardiff School of Education,

Merseyside Police Authority Merseyside Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Merseyside in North West England. The service area is 647 square kilometres with a population of around 1.5 million. As of September 2017 the service has 3,484 police of ...

The Co-Operative The Co-operative branding may refer to: Brands The Co-operative brand - the umbrella brand used by constituents of the British co-operative movement, most notably: * The Co-operative Food - the greatest number of outlets * The Co-operative Bank * ...

, Sky, The Excellence in Diversity Awards and Q Hotels. The Awards have also been supported through several media sponsors including

Gaydio Gaydio is a radio station for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ+) community in the United Kingdom, and is broadcast on 88.4 FM in Greater Manchester, 97.8 FM in Brighton, on DAB digital radio in Greater London, parts of the Home ...

Gay Star News Gay Star News (GSN) is a news website focused on events related to and concerning the global LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) community. Headquartered in the UK, it is privately owned and was founded by Tris Reid-Smith, ...

, The Voice (newspaper), Asian Lite,

Gay Times ''Gay Times'' (stylized in all caps), also known as ''GAY TIMES Magazine'' and as ''GT'', is a UK-based LGBTQ+ magazine established in 1984. Originally a magazine for gay and bisexual men, the company began including content for the LGBTQ+ comm ...

and Able Magazine. Associates and judges of the Awards have included Platform 51,

The Fawcett Society The Fawcett Society is a membership charity in the United Kingdom which campaigns for women's rights. The organisation dates back to 1866, when Millicent Garrett Fawcett dedicated her life to the peaceful campaign for women's suffrage. From 1907 ...

Runnymede Trust The Runnymede Trust is a British race equality and civil rights think tank. It was founded by Jim Rose and Anthony Lester as an independent source for generating intelligence for a multi-ethnic Britain through research, network building, lead ...

DIVA Diva (, ) is the Latin word for a goddess. Diva is a name from Roman mythology, and is associated with the nouns divus, diva, which means god, goddess, and the adjective divinius, which means divine or heavenly. It has often been used to refer t ...

, ENEI and Disability Rights UK.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:National Diversity Awards Awards established in 2012