Nominations are now open for the 2025 Bold Woman Awards, run by Veuve Clicquot, the awards that celebrates and honours incredible female entrepreneurs.
The Bold Woman Awards are the longest-running international accolade celebrating female entrepreneurs and business leaders. Previous winners include a distinguished list of alumni; Professor Sarah Gilbert in 2021 for her leadership in developing the University of Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine, Selfridges Group CEO Anne Pitcher in 2020, and the renowned architect Dame Zaha Hadid in 2013.
The award is inspired by Madame Clicquot, who at the age of 27, took the reins of what was then a relatively unknown champagne house. She revolutionised the champagne making process, introducing techniques still used by major houses today. Her tenacity and creativity transformed Veuve Clicquot into the renowned house that it is now. She was undeniably a bold woman at a time when women were not even permitted to open a bank account.
The two awards open to nominations are:
Bold Woman Award
The Bold Woman Award honours female leadership, recognising women who embody the qualities of Madame Clicquot: an enterprising spirit, courage, and the determination to drive transformation in their field.
This award celebrates women with a proven track record of success in their organisation and personal achievements while also actively inspiring others to follow in their footsteps. It is open to female founders and leaders of all types of organisations—private, charity, and not-for-profit—who have held their roles for more than three years.
Last year’s Bold Woman Award winner, Tracy Blackwell, was honoured due to her inspirational work growing one of the UK’s largest specialist insurers, Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), into a FTSE 100-sized business that pays pensions of 350,000 people. Tracy co-founded the company in 2006 and has grown its asset portfolio to £50 billion, of which more than £13 billion is invested in UK infrastructure, including the UK’s largest urban regeneration project in the Wirral.
Bold Future Award
The second category is the Bold Future Award, which recognises women who are breaking new ground and taking an innovative and entrepreneurial approach to success. This award is open to female founders of organisations established less than five years ago.
The Bold Future Award winner will embody Madame Clicquot’s values of innovation, audacity, fearlessness, and the drive to seize opportunities by bringing a new offering to market or transforming the market itself.
Given the importance of social responsibility in modern business, nominees in both categories must demonstrate tangible evidence of positive social, ethical, or environmental impact.
Last year’s winner was Francesca Brady for her work co-founding AirRated, a company that harnesses the latest technology to measure indoor air quality. Despite us spending 80% of our time indoors, most research and attention on air quality relates to the outdoors. AirRated is designed to provide reassurance about air quality in our indoor spaces and creates a marker for indoor air health that is available to everyone.
Judges for the 2025 Bold Woman Award include a mixture of industry leaders and networkers, with some new faces joining the panel. Bridget Lea, VP & General Manager UK of Snap Inc.—the company behind Snapchat, Spectacles, and Bitmoji—brings her expertise in tech innovation. Also joining is Izzy Obeng, CEO & founder of Foundervine, who has built an extensive network of entrepreneurs and businesswomen. Returning to the panel is Sharmadean Reid MBE, founder of The Stack World and past Bold Future award winner, dedicated to empowering the next generation of women in leadership.
Jean-Marc Gallot, president of Veuve Clicquot, commented:
“The Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman Award has honoured remarkable female entrepreneurs for over fifty years, and each year the candidates are exceptional. Narrowing them down is always challenging.
“Finalists are evaluated on four key criteria: reinventing traditions, showing entrepreneurial daring, promoting female leadership, and upholding ethical standards.
“We encourage the public to nominate inspiring female leaders who embody the pioneering spirit and success of Madame Clicquot in transforming a traditionally male-dominated field.”
Izzy Obeng, CEO & founder of Foundervine, said:
“Celebrating ambitious, intelligent women is at the heart of the Bold Award. I’m honoured to join the prestigious judging panel to recognise the next wave of outstanding female leaders.
“The journey of a female entrepreneur doesn’t have to be solitary; we must come together to celebrate women’s achievements. Veuve Clicquot’s Bold Woman Award highlights exceptional work and inspires future generations.
“Through my work with Foundervine, I bring together networks to allow women to meet other inquisitive, intelligent women who want to change the world and the Bold Award’s 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 2025.
To nominate a candidate for the award go to: https://www.boldopendatabase.com/en/award-application
The future winners of the awards will join Veuve Clicquot’s newly launched Bold Open Database, the first global, open and innovative database, aimed to bring together female entrepreneurs worldwide. Designed with a scientific, economic and social approach, the Bold Open Database brings visibility to a previously unseen group, a source of data surrounding female entrepreneurs and their businesses for investors, journalists and fellow founders. For more information on the Bold Open Database, visit: www.boldopendatabase.com/en/bold-woman-award
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