This afternoon, the Women of the Year Lunch and Awards hosted their 69th annual event to recognise and celebrate over 400 women from across the UK who have achieved extraordinary things this year. The event champions women from all walks of life and each guest is nominated by a member of the Women of the Year Nominating Council in recognition of their personal achievement or inspiration, attending the gathering as a ‘Woman of the Year’.

Five of these outstanding women were honoured with Women of the Year Awards for their selfless dedication to their fields of work. Special honours went to Baroness Hale, the first woman Justice of the Supreme Court in the UK; Merope Mills, patient safety campaigner which resulted in the government committing to implement Martha’s Rule across the NHS to reduce preventable deaths; Raksha Pattni, Chair of educational charity SHINE committed to improving social mobility for disadvantaged children in the North of England; Professor Bola Owolabi, a GP and Director of the Health Inequalities and Improvement Team who works to reduce disparities in access and outcomes from the NHS; Samantha Payne MBE, co-founder of Open Bionics which creates revolutionary low-cost bionic hands; and Dr Alicja Dzieciol, co-founder of SilviBio which mitigates the climate crisis through products designed to increase tree seed germination and seedling survival.

The event was held at the Royal Lancaster London and hosted by actor, comedian and TV presenter Mel Giedroyc. Awards were presented by Emma Bunton, Lorraine Kelly CBE, Rachel Riley, Felicity Jones, Clara Amfo, Kath Tregenna and Susanna Reid.

Over 400 women attended the celebration, joining together for a lunch and awards ceremony to honour the achievements of so many. The event paid special tribute to the inspiring women of the NHS in its 75th year and the incredible sporting achievements of women on the world stage.

High profile figures joining the afternoon’s celebration included Baroness Benjamin, Denise Lewis DBE, Anita Rani, Tamzin Outhwaite, Arlene Phillips, Thomasina Miers, Penny Mordaunt, Emma Barnett, Anneka Rice, Kathy Lette plus many more.

CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR AWARD

The Women of the Year Campaign of the Year Award was presented to Merope Mills by Susanna Reid. Merope is a patient safety campaigner which resulted in the UK government committing to implement Martha’s Rule across the NHS to reduce preventable deaths.

Merope Mills said “I feel honoured to receive the award for Campaign of the Year. In telling Martha’s story, I wanted to highlight preventable deaths in our healthcare system and am pleased to have won government and NHS support for Martha’s Rule. Martha’s Rule is essential in empowering patients to speak up on hospital wards. Ultimately it will enable patients themselves to trigger a critical care review – effectively a second opinion – if they feel their care is going wrong, their concerns are being ignored or their voice isn’t being heard. I’d like to dedicate this award to my wonderful daughter. Martha was bright, brave and brilliant in every way. She is deeply loved and deeply missed.”

GAMECHANGER AWARD

Lorraine Kelly CBE presented the The Woman of the Year Game Changer Award to Lisa Woodcock, who has tirelessly campaigned to raise awareness about organ donation after having a life-saving liver transplant. Krystle Akinsemoyin and Dr Anna Kennedy, OBE were also nominated.

INNOVATION AWARD

Vodafone Business, Women of the Year Innovation Award was presented by Emma Bunton to Dr Alicja Dzieciol, a science entrepreneur, working towards a vision of a more sustainable world. Alicja is the co-founder of SilviBio – a company which creates products to increase tree seed germination and seedling survival, minimising harmful effects of water scarcity on tree seeds and seedlings.

Dr Alicja Dzieciol said, “I am deeply humbled to be recognised by Vodafone for the 2023 Woman of Innovation Award. If you had told me where I’d end up when I originally founded SilviBio four years ago, I would never in a million years have believed you! And not because I didn’t believe in my company’s mission of helping foresters grow more trees, more sustainably. But because I was one woman alone, and now I’m not. I’m surrounded by my wonderful team who share our company’s vision and lend their talents and skills towards making that vision a reality. What we’ve achieved so far is only the beginning. I won’t rest easy until we’ve made a real, lasting impact. The faith put into me today by the inspiring women here only invigorates my resolve to do my part to usher in a truly sustainable future for us all.”

Miryem Salah, Chief Data Officer & Head of Digital & Transformation at Vodafone said, “As a female technology leader, I understand that sustainability is not only at the forefront of everything we do as a society, but is also instrumental to our success in delivering maximum value as a business. Therefore, I’m delighted to present Alicja with the Vodafone Woman of Innovation Award for her truly innovative work with seed and soil technology which is helping create a more sustainable future. Every year I have the great honour to present this award to such formidable ladies and I feel so blessed for the fantastic opportunity to celebrate the innovative and forward thinking ideas being led by all of these inspirational women.”

COMMUNITY CHAMPION AWARD
Raksha Pattni accepted the BP Community Champion Award from Rachel Riley for her work with the education charity SHINE. Raksha is passionate about education as a tool for social mobility, as a way to draw upon the untapped talent, diversity and life experiences that young people represent. Growing up in Tanzania, she experienced issues around poverty, attainment and social mobility, and since working in the UK, has focussed on helping teachers tackle north-south disadvantage gaps in education.
Raksha Pattni said “I feel incredibly honoured to receive the BP Community Champion Award. Through my work with SHINE and the Ambition Institute I work with teachers every day – they are at the heart of the communities they serve. They make the biggest difference when they work hand-in-hand with those communities to drive change. I passionately believe that everyone should get a fair chance of success in life, regardless of where you live and whether your parents are rich or poor. Sadly, this is not the case everywhere in the country, particularly in the north of England. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds don’t do as well as their more affluent peers and by the time they leave school they are already behind by nearly 18 months. This has an inevitable impact on their future success and potential. That is why I dedicate my time to champion education as one of the key drivers of social mobility. Education is sometimes the only chance available for children to break the vicious cycle of poverty and disadvantage. I’m grateful to the Women of the Year awards for highlighting the issues that I am passionate about. I hope this honour inspires others to become change-makers and champions of social mobility and make sure no child or young person is left behind because of their background.”

FOUNDER OF THE YEAR

The Linklaters Founder of the Year was presented by Kath Tregenna to Samantha Payne MBE, co-founder and COO of Open Bionics, a UK-based company that develops medical devices that enhance the human body, including low-cost, 3D printed bionic arms. Open Bionics created Kath Tregenna’s bionic limbs, a teacher with bionic arms and legs who survived sepsis, and who was awarded Woman of Courage Award in 2022.
Samantha Payne said “At Open Bionics we are on a mission to develop assistive technologies that enhance the human body. I’m honoured to be recognised as Linklaters founder of the year, and grateful for our community, engineering, clinical, production, and support teams, who make this magic happen. Watch this space – there’s more innovation to come!”
Aedamar Comiskey, Senior Managing Partner at Linklaters: “We were delighted to award Samantha with our Female Founder of the Year Award. Her unwavering dedication to innovation and the transformative impact this has had on the lives of amputees is truly inspiring. A privilege to spend an afternoon with a group of such impressive women – what terrific role models for future female leaders and entrepreneurs.”

CAMPAIGNER FOR HEALTH EQUITY AWARD

The Gilead & Kite Campaigner for Health Equity Award was awarded to Professor Bola Owolabi by Clara Amfo. Bola is a GP and director of the Health Inequalities and Improvement Team, working to reduce disparities in access and outcome for NHS treatment.
Professor Bola Owolabi said “It’s both an honour and a privilege to be a recipient of the Gilead Woman of the Year Award. Tackling health inequalities is complex work and requires a super-matrix way of working involving action across multiple organisations and sectors. The NHS England National Healthcare Inequalities team which I have the privilege of leading have provided clarity of vision, ambition, and direction in this space, which has in turn galvanised whole system energy and momentum to drive change. I dedicate this Award wholeheartedly to my team.”
Dr Véronique Walsh, General Manager & VP, UK & Ireland, Gilead Sciences, said “Professor Bola’s commitment to eliminating health inequalities serves as an inspiration to us all. She works tirelessly to ensure that those unseen and unheard communities and individuals in the margins are helped and can access support. Too often many in society face disparities in their health outcomes, so Bola’s Core20PLUS5 is a critical approach to addressing inequalities and gives us all the agency to act and make a change.
At Gilead Sciences our focus goes beyond medicines, as we know innovation will have the most impact on patients when we help remove societal barriers to care. Bola, thank you for your significant contribution to creating a healthier and more equitable society. Congratulations on this well-deserved award!”

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Finally, the Women of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award 2023 went to Baroness Hale, presented by Felicity Jones. Brenda Marjorie Hale, Lady Hale of Richmond, DBE has had a career of firsts in her life in law. After graduating from the male-dominated University of Cambridge in 1966, Baroness Hale taught at Manchester University, also qualifying as a barrister. She specialised in Family and Social Welfare law, was founding editor of the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, and authored a pioneering case book on ‘The Family, Law and Society’.
In 1984 she made history as the first woman to be appointed to the Law Commission, a statutory legal reform body. The Baroness’ time at the Commission encompassed incredibly important legislation resulting from the work of her team, including the Children Act 1989, the Family Law Act 1996, and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
In 1994 she became a High Court judge, the first to have made her career as an academic and public servant. In 1999 she was the second woman to be promoted to the Court of Appeal, before becoming the first woman Law Lord. After becoming the UK’s first woman Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in January 2004, she became the first woman Justice of the Supreme Court in October 2009.
Baroness Hale said, “What a delight to be among so many wonderful women to celebrate their achievements! It’s an honour to be among them.”

Lady Louise Vaughan, Chair, Women of the Year said, “I’m once again full of admiration to be in a room among these extraordinary women, and to celebrate their varied and many awe-inspiring achievements. The innovation, tenacity and courage exemplified by these women, and their incredible work which has changed the lives of those it touches for the better, is something that is deeply important to recognise and honour.”