A brief history of our Awards

Although there were already awards for businesswomen in 2007, Women in the City wanted to celebrate the achievements of a particular group of women: those working within specific professions and within the male-dominated working environment London's business hubs - The City, Canary Wharf and the West End.

Having organised 4 highly-successful Annual Lunches and following a discussion with Prof Susan Vinnicombe, OBE, Director of the Centre for Developing Women Leaders at Cranfield University, we were delighted that she shared our desire to to recognise the achievements of extraordinarly talented professional women, agreed to Chair our Panel of Judges and help us set the criteria and rigorous judging process for our Woman of Achievement and Lifetime Achievement Awards.

In 2008 we approached a number of professional bodies to Endorse the Woman of Achievement Category Awards, promote them to their membership and form a Panel of Judges to select the Category Award Winner. Their involvement has been invaluable in many ways. Not only have they afforded additional rigour to the judging process, they have also encouraged both more nominations and increased applications.

In 2009 we made a one-off Lifetime Achievement Award to recognise the significant contribution made by an exceptional woman to the success of women in the professions.

Our Future Leaders Award introduced in 2010 recognises high-flying women at the start of their careers.

A Culture Change Award is being introduced for 2010 and will recognise someone, male or female, who has made a significant contribution to changing the culture within his/her organisation in order to make it one in which women thrive.

The significant pay differentials between men and women, even at senior levels, are not due to women's lack of talent so much as their reluctance to put themselves forward and to network strategically within their organisations thereby unwittingly allowing their achievements to go un-noticed. By encouraging talent to come forward and rewarding the achievements of women in the professions we want to bring to reality the words of Margaret Heffernan, the Keynote Speaker at our 2007 Annual Celebration Lunch, who said "... awards give women clout."

When Mandy Mannix found herself a victim of the credit crunch, she believes that the increased profile afforded to her by being our 2007 Woman of Achievement Award winner put her name forefront in the minds of those responsible for making recruitment decisions and played a part in her being offered a new role with Nomura.

And Amanda Blanc, our 2008 Insurance Category winner and our Woman of Achievement Award winner has been able to broaden her already high profile beyond the insurance sector.

Kathryn Britten, the 2008 Accountancy Category Winner was overwhelmed by the number of letters of congratulations she received from clients, colleagues and former colleagues.

And our 2008 Property Category Winner, Carol Bell believes that the enhanced profile afforded to her by winning the Award has helped cushion her from the some of the worst effects of the downturn in her sector.

The co-Winner of our 2009 Financial Services Category Winner, Janet Thomas saw her name in the FT, received congratulations from her employer's Leadership Board in the USA, thereby significantly raising her profile internally whilst the Winner of our Lifetime Achievement Award, Estelle Clark, Group Business Assurance Director with Lloyd's Register was rewarded for a career spent entirely in male-dominated sectors. 

Our Woman of Achievement Award  criteria include a requirement for women to show evidence of supporting the progress of women on their teams and within their organisation whilst our new Future Talent Award aims to discover and recognise tomorrow's female leaders.

Ruth Sealy, who works at the International Centre for Women Leaders at Cranfield University, wrote in our 2007 Lunch & Awards Programme that "The lack of senior female role models continues to be cited as a key barrier to women's career success. ... Having access to role models ... has value at both a Behavioural and Symbolic level ... with senior role models providing evidence of possiblity [for career progression]."