The Women’s Awards 2024 – Catching up – Part 1

It’s been a very busy few weeks and I feel like I’m peddling hard to catch up with myself.

With our prestigious annual The Women’s Awards 2024 having taken place on Friday 27^th September at the luxurious IXL Centre in Warwickshire at the top of my list.

This is the 8^th year The Women’s Awards have been in place and each year we receive 200+ nominations from the general public wishing to give recognition to the many women in their communities, businesses, and organisations who are making a difference.

After shortlisting these nominations for women from across all sectors of business, community, corporate, social care, and more (there were 14 categories this year) our Panel of 13 distinguished Judges is set the task of reviewing the hundreds of pages, links, PDFs, videos, and more to identify the Winners.  Judging is a difficult task.  Each category has its own set criteria, and the panel must ensure their decisions are clear.  I am truly grateful to our Judging Panel without whom this would be extremely difficult.

So, you can imagine the process for the next year starts at the end of the celebration of the current year.  We’ve already started. We already have a Headline Sponsor – East Midlands in place for 2025.  If you’d like to get involved you’ll need to move fast. More on that in the coming weeks.

The daily activities to make this annual event happen are undertaken by a small team of two, of which I make up one member.  Then we have a few more volunteers who help us on the night with set up and registration of guests.  This as you can imagine is not an easy task overall, but it’s all worth it when we see the room filled with inspirational women from all walks of life, from grassroots to ‘C’ suite receiving the recognition, value, and appreciation they deserve.  I’m grateful for what these awards have achieved, they’ve become one of the most sought after awards in the Midlands. This prestige reflects the impact previous Finalists and Winners have benefited from over the past eight years.

So, my thanks and deep appreciation go to our Sponsors, and Champions whose support has made this year a successful one.  To those shortlisted and nominated, and to this year’s Winners, let this recognition be a never-ending reminder to you that your work and contributions are seen, valued, and important to many.  Congratulations.

There were a few Winners who were unable to attend on the night and we will be meeting up with them in the next few weeks to present their trophies and certificates.  We’ll be sure to take a few photos and share them with you.

On the point of photos, the official photos will be out soon.  We’ll also let you know when they are.

There is some of the feedback we’ve received from some of this years’ Winners and attendees.

Dear Sandra,
I just wanted to reach out this morning after quiet reflection of last night’s Women’s Award. We were guests of Debbie Moore and David Hayes and what an extraordinary evening it was.
I left feeling my soul was well and truly filled to overflowing of the stories, support and love that was felt in that room. It was such a breath of fresh air to see such diversity and inclusivity of every woman.
So thank you I know how much effort an event like that takes, my last event I ran three days before lockdown and haven’t been to one since.
So thank you for the inspiration and the gentle nudge to remind me of the power that happens when women come together and the support that men can bring.
Have an amazing day and a well needed rest today. – Kezia Luckett.

Hi Sandra,
I hope you are well. I am reaching out to you as the founder and organiser of The Women’s Awards and firstly just wanted to say thank you for putting together such an amazing event to celebrate phenomenal women. I was sadly unable to attend the event on Friday as I have been abroad all last week visiting my mother abroad who is unwell. I returned home to the over the weekend and saw the amazing posts on LinkedIn about the awards and was shocked to see that I had won Outstanding Woman in Professional Services (West Midlands)! It literally made me break down into tears after what has been a very tough week for me dealing with personal matters. Thank you so much for this recognition! – Sana Saddique

Hi Sandra

Firstly, thank you for an amazing event last night.  From our perspective everything was perfect. We acknowledge and appreciate everything you, your family and the close team around you do to create The Women’s Awards and the positive difference this makes in people’s lives. – David Hayes, Elizabeth Hayes & Associates Ltd. Sponsor 2024.

Friday night was a bit overwhelming.
I had the honour of being nominated for the Outstanding Woman with Community Impact at The Women’s Awards.
It was an evening celebrating what women can achieve, many times despite obstacles and hardships, but always with the support of other women. I was staggered to be awarded the trophy in my category, it was such a humbling night and I was in awe of the inspirational ladies there. Thank you to the encouragement of all the ladies on table 23 (whoop whoop!) including my date for the evening, Tracey Parr– Tilley Bancroft.

There are so many others.  I am grateful for the feedback, support, and most of all the impact of this work. We will be sharing more on The Women’s Awards in the following weeks and months. I hope you will join the movement.

In my next post, I’ll be sharing about my involvement in a unique and first of its kind exhibition in Leicester.

Blessings.