Lucky Generals' Chloe Davis Makes the Burberry British Diversity Awards Shortlist

The Burberry British Diversity Awards has released its shortlist ahead of the annual ceremony which will take place in London on Wednesday 22 March and Lucky Generals’ Chloe Davis has made the list. 

She shares the exulted space with 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 among others.

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 won by Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock in 2022.

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, Boots, BT, Centrica, Greene King, Haleon, Lockton, National Grid and Haleon are all sponsoring categories at the event.