Honoured to Have Nikki Bedi Present the 2023 No2H8 Awards

We are honoured to announce that BBC presenter and radio broadcaster, Nikki Bedi will be compering the 2023 annual No2Hh8 Awards in London on mid-November. Nikki Bedi also presented the 2022 Awards which was one of the best attended No2H8 Awards ceremony since their launch in 2016.

Nikki Bedi is a television and radio broadcaster with a passion for making arts and culture accessible. She currently curates, writes and presents The Arts Hour on the BBC World Service, their flagship arts and culture programme, which once a month becomes The Arts Hour On Tour, a show that travels across the globe to different countries to bring the hottest names, talents and issues to the airwaves and to 98 million listeners.

She also co-Hosts BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live with the Reverend Richard Coles. A programme she adores because she believes everyone has a story to tell. Nikki has also been a regular interviewer and presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends, and has fronted other flagship shows on the station including Front Row and Woman’s Hour.

Over on our televisions, Nikki hosts the new BBC World News series Encounter Culture. She’s been seen presenting BBC2’s topical weekly arts and entertainment programme, Front Row, hosting live screenings and interviews for the BBC, most recently for Ralph and Katie and was a brilliant panellist on QI where she spoke in Hindi.

Nikki describes herself as ‘glocal’ as her work is both global and local. Born to an Indian father and English mother, she began her career in Mumbai as both a stage and film actress and worked with some of India’s finest directors.

Her foray into the world of presenting began when Channel 4 gave her a talk show, Bombay Chat and its success prompted Star TV in Asia to give her a primetime chat show called Nikki Tonight which became Asia’s most widely viewed and also most controversial show.

In her spare time she watches inordinate amounts of television and refuses to discuss the great work she quietly does for her chosen charities.

The No2H8 Awards Moves into its Seventh Year

We are proud to announce that the annual No2H8 Awards will be taking place in November 2023. This will be our seventh year and we have ensured that as wide a number of partner agencies who work on hate crime work, are involved.

Hate crime work has come under the political spotlight recently, though no-one can deny the importance of ensuring that victims have the chance to have their voices heard when a crime takes place against them and when it targets a part of their identity.

Sponsorships for the No2H8 Awards are open and we are deeply grateful to those organisations and agencies who continue to support the No2H8 Awards.

As the Chair of the Awards, Fiyaz Mughal OBE says:

We need to ensure that the values of standing up for each other and ensuring our collective safety are re-enforced. Britain is a country where many of us from minority communities have found a space to live and to thrive. That is testament to the British spirit of fairness and which we should always celebrate.

Sponsorship Opportunities for the No2H8 2023 Awards Are Open

After last year’s successful No2H8 Awards, we have decided to open the sponsorship opportunities for organisations, corporate bodies and companies two months earlier since this provides a better lead in and promotional time for brands that are supporting the Awards.

Last year’s sponsorship opportunities provided a wide array of exposure both online and offline for sponsors and ensured that communities involved in countering and campaigning against hatred, intolerance and prejudice, had the opportunity to engage and recognise sponsoring brands early on.

If you are looking to engage with socially active individuals and communities of interest in this area, why don’t you get in touch with us on info@no2h8crimeawards.org. Or you can call us on 0207 935 5573.

After last year’s attendance of over 320 people, we are hoping to build on this in 2023.

Let’s Honour Those Heroes Who Challenged Hate in the Pandemic

We are finally coming through to some sense of ‘normality’ after the Covid pandemic. However, even as we speak, there is a rise in Covid infections in England as new variations of the Omicron strain take root in our country.

We know that the pandemic meant that more people went online and sometimes consumed web-sites that promoted conspiracy theories and antisemitic, anti-Muslim or LGBTQ hate. The level of hate incidents rose during the first quarter of the pandemic, between April-July 2020. Groups such as the Community Security Trust and Tell MAMA, for example, recorded spikes in online hate that affected both Jewish and Muslim communities.

We are also aware that many individuals were instrumental in working with others to challenge hatred and those groups spreading intolerance when the pandemic took initial root in April 2020. 

Which is why we are keen on ensuring that they are honoured and nominated for recognition at the 2022 No2H8 Awards.

Therefore, if you know of such an individual, do consider nominating them when nominations open on Monday the 18th of July. We will be circulating the nomination link on that day and thereafter.

Organisations Tackling Hate – Get Involved

 

The No2H8 Awards have a range of hate crime countering partners who have worked with and associated themselves with the national awards.

We are looking to refresh the list and work with existing organisations, as well as new organisations that have started work in this area since 2020.

We understand that the pandemic has changed much and with that in mind, we must ensure that the Awards include as many organisations countering hate, as possible.

If you are such an organisation, get in touch with us on info@no2h8crimeawards.org to discuss how you may be involved.

Categories for the No2H8 2022 Awards

As we move towards the November 2022 fifth annual No2H8 Awards, we have confirmed the following categories for the Awards.

These include the following:

  • The Young Upstander Award,
  • The Media Upstander Award,
  • The Community Upstander Award,
  • The Local Authority Upstander Award,
  • The Law Enforcement Upstander Award,
  • The Parliamentary Upstander Award,
  • The Social Research Upstander Award,
  • The Lifetime Achievement Award (in countering intolerance and prejudice),
  • The Business Upstander Award,
  • The Sports Upstander Award,

ADDITIONAL ORGANISATIONAL AWARDS

These will be presented by the following organisations to individuals who have made a marked difference to the work of these organisations in tackling hatred, intolerance and prejudice.

  • The CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) Upstander Award,
  • The Tell MAMA Upstander Award,
  • The Sylvia Lancaster Upstander Award,
  • The Sophie Lancaster Upstander Award

Public nominations for the awards will open on Monday the 18th of July 2022.

We are Launching the 2022 Annual No2H8 Awards in the Coming Months

 

So much time has elapsed since the last No2H8 Awards event in 2019. A pandemic has come and gone, the world has changed and many of us could not get together for 2 years to enjoy each other’s company or to celebrate community events.

With the worst of the pandemic behind us, we are proud to announce that that the No2H8 Awards will be held in November 2022. It is our collective chance to honour the best of our communities and the best of those within who stand against hatred, prejudice and intolerance.

We will also be announcing our media partners for the No2H8 Awards in due course and we wanted to highlight the key nomination dates where members of the public can nominate an individual or an organisation for one of the Award categories, The 2019 winners are listed here.

Nominations will open on the 18th of July 2022 and they will close on the 9th of September 2022.

Watch out for links to the nomination forms and in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to discuss any matter related to the No2H8 Awards.

We Welcome Six Time Olympian, Tessa Sanderson CBE, as a Patron of the NO2H8 Awards

We are proud to announce that Tessa Sanderson CBE has agreed to become a patron for the annual No2H8 Awards. 

Tessa ignited pride in the nation as she went onto win Gold in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and also competed in six Olympiads. She is the first black British woman to have won an Olympic gold medal and remains an inspiration for many women and young people from Black and Minority Ethnic communities, who want to focus their energies within sports.

 Commenting on becoming a patron for the NO2H8 Awards, Tessa said:

“It is an honour to have been invited to be a patron of the No2H8 Crime Awards. As someone who experienced racism in their early career, I have always encouraged diversity within sport and other areas of life, and it is always very disheartening to hear people are still experiencing discrimination, whether that be towards their gender, race or religious beliefs. I am proud of anyone who has taken a stance against intolerance and hatred, and congratulate everyone who is nominated for one of these awards, which highlights the bravery and hard work of individuals and organisations who are doing their utmost to rid our society of prejudice. I only wish I had the courage to do so when I was younger. I am so pleased to be a patron for such a good cause and look forward to working with team on the awards.”

June Sarpong to be Presenter at the No2H8 Awards 2018

We are honoured to announce that TV presenter and social commentator, June Sarpong MBE, will be presenting at the annual No2H8 Awards in mid September.

Ms Sarpong MBE has regularly commented on the need to tackle racism, prejudice and bigotry and we are therefore proud that she will be with us on the night.

If you would like to nominate an Upstander against hatred, you can do so here and there are a number of award categories to choose from.