1. GG2 Hammer Award – sponsored by the Asian Media & Marketing Group
Vijith Randeniya OBE MA BA (Hons) MIFireE, Chief Fire Officer, West Midlands Fire Service
Vijith Randeniya, from Birmingham, became the first Asian person to head the UK Fire Service in March 2009 following an illustrious career devoted to keeping people safe. Vij spent 15 years in the London Fire Brigade before moving to be head of operations in Nottingham. Today he sits on many boards concerned with community safety and regeneration. In 2006 he was awarded an OBE.
2. GG2 Woman of the Year – sponsored by HSBC
Dr Nemat Shafik, Permanent Secretary, Dfid
Nemat Shafik, or Minouche Shafik, as she is better known, is the permanent secretary at the Department for International Development – the official face of all the UK’s aid programmes around the world. She holds degrees from Oxford, LSE and has taught at Wharton Business School and Georgetown University.
3. GG2 Man of the Year – sponsored by the Asian Media & Marketing Group
Christopher Hyman, Chief Executive and Director, Serco Group Plc
Christopher Hyman, from London, is the CEO and director of Serco Group Plc. A qualified chartered accountant born in South Africa, he was one of a handful of non-whites to study at his university. He was appointed as National Ambassador by the Prince of Wales for Business in the Community and today is involved in a number of the Prince’s interests including Habitat for Humanity and the Borneo Tropical Rainforest Foundation.
4. GG2 Pride of Britain Awards – sponsored by Sunmark
Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry, holder of a Victoria Cross.
Not once, but twice in separate incidents a month apart, he came to the aid of his colleagues caught in an ambush in Iraq and came under serious enemy fire himself. His bravery saved lives but also cost him serious head injuries in the second attack, which after steering his armoured vehicle with several wounded colleagues to safety, he lost consciousness and had to be operated on. In both incidents he showed remarkable courage with little thought for his own safety. The first Victoria Cross awarded to someone not killed in action for more than 20 years.
5. GG2 Football in the Community Award – sponsored by Chelsea FC
The Football Foundation
The Football Foundation has helped support a number of Asian and other minority clubs thrive and prosper. It is at the forefront of efforts to widen the game’s access and make it even more of a national game than it currently is.
6. GG2 Metropolitan Police Community Award – sponsored by the Metropolitan Police
PC Karmi Reki, Prevent and Engagement Team, Hounslow
PC Karmi Reki embodies all the qualities that make a community police officer great, often going well beyond the call of duty to assist and help her colleagues and the community she serves. She has been responsible for raising the profile of the service locally, and breaking down barriers and helping form bonds of trust between communities.
7. GG2 Civil Servant of the Year – sponsored by the Home Office & Civil Service
Selvin Brown MBE, Deputy Head of Race Equality & Diversity, Communities & Local Government
Selvin Brown has held a number of roles across Government diversity and equality portfolios and is responsible for a cross-Whitehall strategy for race equality. As head of Diversity Mainstreaming he produced a report on disability in the department for the Secretary of State that resulted in the broadest representation of this group in civil service internal awards.
8. GG2 Community Award – sponsored by the Royal Navy
Andrew Amers-Morrison, Head Coach, Samba Street Soccer
As a teenager Andrew Amers-Morrison, was an aspiring semi-professional footballer when an injury ended his career. His love of football endured however and he founded the Samba Street Soccer club originally with kids from the deprived Brunel Estate in Westminster. With 83 per cent of children from jobless households in the ward, the club has grown to 100 children and has had its children scouted by youth development centres. In 2006 Samba’s under-11s came second in a local league.
9. GG2 Entrepreneur of the Year – sponsored by PepsiCo UK & Ireland
Surinder Arora, Chairman, Arora International Hotels
Surinder Arora, from West Drayton, came to the UK from Punjab aged 14 with his mother and aunt. He has worked with British Airways and Abbey Life before leaving to pursue his own interests in 1993, converting a number of houses into a B&B for airline staff opposite Heathrow Airport. The Arora International brand today owns 14 properties, nine of which were newly acquired worth £300m.
10. GG2 Achievement through Adversity – sponsored by Nationwide
Sabina Iqbal, Chair & Founder, Deaf Parenting UK
Sabina Iqba, who works in Croydon and lives in Hemel Hempstead, is chair of the charity Deaf Parenting UK that she founded in 2004. The organisation is dedicated to ensuring parents have access to information including at the time of having a child, when they attend parenting classes, and midwifery and health visitors who frequently don’t know sign language. The charity has launched a website, quarterly newsletter, annual conference and celebrity ambassadors.
11. GG2 Young Journalist of the Year – sponsored by the Daily Mail
Cara Simpson, Senior Reporter, Coventry Telegraph
A senior reporter with the Coventry Telegraph, Cara Simpson took her first professional journalism job in 2006 following a stint on student papers. Committed to journalism campaigns, she has to her name numerous splashes that have shaped local health policy and rectified problems in the community. She won newcomer of the year in the 2008 Midlands Media Awards and is a winner of the George Viner Memorial Fund scholarship.
12. GG2 Campaign of the Year Award – India Tourist Office
Through a remarkable bank of images and carefully chosen words, the people behind this campaign have managed to keep their brand very much in the public mind. Think luxury, timeless beauty, history, both ancient and modern, and a charm few other products could so effortlessly match.
