Being part of the Asian Achievers Awards judging panel was a sheer pleasure and an honour. Having attended the ceremony on a few occasions in the past, it was great to see what actually happens behind the scenes when it comes to the nominations and, how exactly the winners are selected.
Over the years I have been to countless events and Award ceremonies and must admit that I have never seen such a rigorous and thorough judging method adopted by any ceremony before, which involved a phenomenal number of applications of some really talented and accomplished individuals from all across the United Kingdom. After a lot of reading, the judges were involved in a series of meetings where the winners were selected based upon a point system set up by the organisers.
The night began on the red carpet at the Grosvenor Hotel Ballroom with a wide array of guests from all walks of life. Politicians, business heads, community leaders, media celebrities, influencers and philanthropists – you can name any professional field and it pretty much was covered in the room.
As black tie events go, I know the AAA are one of the most sought after events of the year and the entertainment was fantastic.
True to form we saw some very talented Brazilian dancers, singers and as the event was hosted by Nitin Ganatra of Eastenders fame and Deana Uppal from Big Brother both did a marvellous comperingD the evening and keeping the crowd entertained.
It was lovely to see messages from our Prime Minister Liz Truss to commemorate the evening, which really made the evening special. Former First Minister of Northern Ireland Dame Arlene Foster made her way to the stage and lead a moving tribute to the Queen followed by a minute’s silence in Her Majesty’s honour by all attendees.
Comedian Tez Ilyas stole the show with a great stand-up segment. As the night progressed the event, everyone managed to pull out their wallets in the name of charity and it was great to see that £100,000 was raised during the charity auction.
It was enchanting to see the founder of the AAA’s CB Patel honoured for his hard work and dedication, as the pioneer within the Awards scene, he was the one who laid the foundations for Award ceremonies to be successful and buzzing.
As a judge for the 2022 Asian Achievers Awards, it was a sheer delight to meet the worthy nominees and winners of the Awards who were so well deserving that it really was a tough task for the judges to whittle them down during the selection process.
One after the other, we got to see the winners from various categories make their way to the stage and it was brilliant to see the audience go wild and bask in their success alongside their family, friends and well-wishers in the audience.
As South Asians I believe it is vital that we stand together and build each other and not tear each other down and the night was a true testament to supporting South Asian talent.
Personally, for me a rather moving moment was when the Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s mother came up on stage to collect her Award. The sheer joy and pride she had on her face was wonderful, and I think everyone in the room felt a sense of pride seeing a woman of colour within the Cabinet achieve such a plum position win such a prestigious Award.
There were other notable female winners too, including Prema Subaskaran, who won a special award for her Contribution to Healthcare.
Hats off to the organisers for arranging such a wonderful event and I have no doubt the Asian Achievers Awards will just keep getting better and better as time goes on.
The food by Raagaasan was superb and I for one cannot wait to see and be part of the Asian Achiever Awards in 2023.