Asian Women of Achievement Awards 2017 – Powering excellence

Annual awards ceremony spotlights women making a difference…

BBC BROADCASTER Shay Grewal was among the winners last night at the glittering Asian Women of Achievement Awards (AWA) in London.

She was presented the Media Award at the dinner and presentation at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane.

Cherie Blair, former prime minister Tony Blair’s wife, Amber Rudd MP, home secretary, Diane Abbott MP, shadow home secretary and Princess Badiya bint El Hassan of Jordan were among the high-powered guests. Blair and El Hassan are also patrons of the awards.

Shay who is one half of ‘Sunny and Shay’ with her husband, Sunny Grewal, are presenters on BBC radio seven-days a week.

The couple can be heard on BBC WM 95.6FM in the afternoons from 2-4pm on Monday to Thursday and then on BBC London every Friday and Saturday night from 10pm-2am.

They also have their own signature style news discussion and arts and entertainment programme on BBC London every Sunday between 6pm-8pm.

Shay (pictured on right in the centre with her award) posted on her FB page today: “Still in complete shock and so happy to have won the Media Award at Women of Achievement awards last night.

“I’m so humbled to be named amongst great women and recognise this accomplishment wouldn’t have happened without my husband Sunny.

“As I said on stage last night I truly believe there is no glass ceiling that women cannot shatter and break through!”

Jaspreet Sangha

The two first shot to fame in the Channel 4 reality TV show, ‘The Family’ (2009) and then went onto carve out a radio and TV presenting career, starting out on Jo Good’s afternoon shows on Radio London.

Sunny said the award would only make Shay hungrier to progress and grow.

“She is truly a trailblazer who has dedication and has always let her work do the talking. I know this does not mean she will take her foot off the pedal but it will put a turbo engine (boost) to go even faster and stronger and I’ll be there all the way.”

The two have also presented a chat show on Brit Asian TV and Sunny had regular film column on www.asianculturevulture.com not long after the site was created and the couple travelled to the Cannes Film Festival in 2014 to support acv.

Sunny is a serious film buff and the pair are also brand ambassadors for the London Indian Film Festival.

Spoken word artist Jaspreet Sangha was handed the AWA Arts and Culture Award. Tackling gender issues and confronting taboos in ‘Behind the Netra’, Sangha’s poetry impressed the judges and left a lasting impression.

A high powered judging group comprising of men and women from a number of professions and commercial organisations make up the panel.

The AWA is now in its 18th year and was founded and is still headed by businesswoman Pinky Lilani CBE.

Organised in association with NatWest, Lilani said the winners were great role models and very inspiring.

“We are proud to provide a platform to celebrate such incredible talent and the positive impact of British Asian women on our society today,” she said.

Pinky Lilani (centre) with all the nominees

Full List of winners 2017

•Jaspreet Sangha (Behind the Netra), Spoken Word Artist and Teacher, St Marylebone School (Arts & Culture)
• Raj Dohil, Talent Acquisition Specialist, Enterprise Rent-A-Car (Business)
• Sunaina Sinha, Founder and Managing Partner, Cebile Capital (Entrepreneur)
• Shay Grewal, Presenter, BBC (Media)
• Vidisha Joshi, Managing Partner, Hodge Jones & Allen LLP & Vandita Pant, Group Treasurer and Head of Europe, BHP Billiton (Professions)
• Dr Harjinder Kaur, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager and Gender Advisor, PwC (Public Service)
• Professor Sadaf Farooqi, Professor of Metabolism and Medicine, University of Cambridge (Science & Technology)
• Sofia Buncy, Prisoner Rehabilitation and Community Development Coordinator, Muslim Hands UK (Social & Humanitarian)
• Anoushé Husain, Para-Climber (Sport)
• Anoushka Babbar, Head of Regulatory Policy and Government Relations, London Stock Exchange Group (Young Achiever)
• Fatima Zaman, Prevent Officer, Home Office and London Borough of Tower Hamlets (Chairman’s Award)

Also highly commended by the judging panel this year were: Abda Khan (Arts & Culture), Dawinder Bansal, (Media), Tanya Laird (Science & Technology), Dr Rouba Mhaissen (Social &
Humanitarian), Mimi Harker OBE (Public Service).

Read interview with Abda Khan and her debut novel, ‘Stained’