London, UK, 20th September 2023 – Nominations are now open for the 2024 Bold Woman Award, by Veuve Clicquot, the award that celebrates and honours incredible achievements by inspirational women.
The longest-running international award celebrating female entrepreneurs and business leaders, the Bold Award boasts illustrious alumni including; Professor Sarah Gilbert recognised in 2021 for her work leading the development of the University of Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine, CEO of Selfridges Group, Anne Pitcher in 2020 and renowned architect Dame Zaha Hadid in 2013.
Last year’s Bold Award winner Tessa Clarke, was honoured due to her inspirational work creating food sharing app, Olio. The business has grown quickly since launching in 2015, with over 7 million using Olio and partnerships established with major food retailers including Tesco, Iceland and Amazon Fresh.
The award takes inspiration from Madame Clicquot, who in 1805, at the age of 27 took the reins of the house after the death of her husband. Madame Clicquot went on to revolutionise the process of making champagne, introducing techniques that are still used today by all major houses. Her tenacity and creativity built Veuve Clicquot into the renowned brand that it is today. She was undoubtedly a bold woman at a time when women were not allowed to work or to open a bank account.
Judges for the 2024 Bold Woman Award include a mixture of industry titans and networkers, and this year’s award includes three new faces. Fiona Hathorn, CEO, Women on Boards UK, who has an unparalleled network of female founders, Sharmadean Reid MBE, founder of The Stack World, whose mission is to develop the next generation of women in power and Pippa Lamb, partner at Sweet Capital, who passionate about changing the status quo for female led businesses.
Two award categories are open for public submission, for 2024; the Bold Woman Award and the Bold Future Award.
Bold Woman Award
The Bold Woman Award celebrates female entrepreneurship and leadership. It is awarded to those who share the same qualities as Madame Clicquot: her enterprising spirit, her courage and the determination necessary to accomplish the transformation of her field.
It honours women who have a track record of success within their organisation and personal achievements, but also actively inspires other women to follow in their footsteps. It is open to female founders and leaders of all types of organisations including private, charity and not-for-profit, providing they have been in the role for more than three years and is presented to a female leader who epitomises the qualities that Madame Clicquot herself represented – an enterprising spirit, courage and the determination necessary to accomplish business goals.
Bold Future Award
The second category is the Bold Future Award, presented to a woman who is breaking new ground and taking an innovative approach to achieving success. It is open to female founders of organisations established less than five years ago.
The winner of the Bold Future Award will emulate Madame Clicquot’s values of innovation, audacity, fearlessness and drive to act in the moment to optimise a gap in today’s market, by bringing a new offer to market or revolutionising the face of the market itself.
Social responsibility is a core tenet of modern business and as such, nominees for both categories must be able to show tangible evidence of positive social, ethical or environmental impact or activities.
Last year’s winner was Karen Scofield Seal, for her work founding impact start-up OCEANIUM. Karen was honoured due to the trailblazing work harnessing the incredible benefits of seaweed to develop bioactive ingredients for health and cosmetics, food ingredients and innovative, seaweed-based materials for textiles and packaging. Despite being in its infancy, OCEANIUM has already raised over $10 million from ocean impact funds including World Wildlife Fund and Builders Vision.
Jean-Marc Gallot, President of Veuve Clicquot, commented:
“The Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman Award has been celebrating strong female entrepreneurs for over fifty years and every year, the calibre of candidates is astounding. It is always a difficult choice to whittle down the nominations to just a handful of names.
“Those that do make it through our rigorous selection process are assessed across four key areas, from successfully reinventing traditions and demonstrating entrepreneurial daring, to championing better representation of female leaders and maintaining an ethical approach.
“We ask the public to put forward those daring female business leaders who have inspired them; those who embody the trailblazing attitude of Madame Clicquot.
Sharmadean Reid MBE, founder of The Stack World, and new Bold Award judge added:
“Celebrating ambitious, intelligent women is what the Bold Award is all about. Having won the Bold Future Award in 2021 it’s an honour to now be part of the prestigious judging panel recognising the next tranche of outstanding female business leaders.
“The journey of a female business leader and entrepreneur doesn’t have to be lonely so it is essential that we come together and celebrate the achievements of women where we can. Veuve Clicquot’s incredible award shine a spotlight on the already superb work being done while inspiring the next generation.
“Through my work with The Stack World, I bring together networks to allow women to meet other smart, curious women who want to change the world and the Bold Award’ values align perfectly with what we’re trying to achieve.”
The call for nominations for the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award and Bold Future Award acts as the starting point in the search for the best female business talent in the UK. This will result in up to two exceptional women being awarded at a prestigious event in London in 2024.
To nominate a candidate for the award go to: https://www.veuveclicquot.com/en-gb/bold-woman-award-uk-2024
