IN A WEEK dominated by differences and division, last night’s prestigious National Centre for Diversity (NCFD) Grand Awards held at Earls Court, London, highlighted the excellent work the private and public sectors are doing to promote fairness.
The awards celebrate the stars who practice the principles of EDI and honour the companies and people who are advancing these principles in the workplace and encouraging fairness for all.
Solat Chaudhry, NCFD Chief Executive, said:
“We live in difficult and uncertain times with the UK divided after the Brexit vote. Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement defines a nation. It is so important to demonstrate the excellent work that is counteracting the negativity, ensuring that collectively the UK can hold its head high and say that we are continuously working to improve our culture and attitude, to ensure fairness for all.
The companies that won last night bring a sense of decency, stability, certainty, well-being, hope, optimism and resilience in a world where mainstream political rhetoric has hardened.”
The winners were determined by an independent panel of judges, with NCFD receiving a record number of nominations.
Jim Aleander, Independent Consultant to the FE Sector, said:
“Nominations this year were of a particularly high standard, which created a demanding challenge in judging them for the awards. A notable feature this year has been the large number, wide range and diversity of organisations and individuals proposed for an award.
The nominations demonstrated superbly the ingenuity and commitment of people in all types of public and private employment settings to “go the extra mile” in advancing equality.”
Khalida Hussain, Senior Development Officer, Voluntary Action Fund, said:
“It was a pleasure to judge the NCFD awards this year which was very difficult given the high calibre of nominations received for all the categories. It was heartening to read of all the great work taking place across the country in taking forward Equality, Diversity and Fairness. I was particularly struck by the humbleness of some nominees who genuinely wanted to make a difference in making our society fairer.”
