Carmen Munroe OBE
Actress
"Friendship, for me, it was priceless. We were together in the fire holding hands."
Nominated by: Fiona Lamptey
Hallam Ifill
Founder of Rainbow Steel Band
“He’s just always laughing, he seems to always have a permanent laugh"
Nominated by: Fairfield House
Amrit Wilson
Writer and Activist, Member of South Asia Solidarity Group
"There's a lot of debate of who is black and who is not..."
Nominated by: Ruchira Sharma
Gary Crosby OBE
Jazz bassist, Artistic Director of Nu Civilisation Orchestra and Co-founder of the Tomorrows Warriors
"Given the chance, anybody's capable"
Nominated by: Soweto Kinch
Lucy Sheen
Actor, Writer, Filmmaker, Activist, Advocate and Founding member of BEATS.org
"If we can't even be involved in the retelling of our own culture, our own heritage then, what on earth can we be involved in?"
Nominated by: BESEA.N
Aubrey Williams
Artist
"A true genius of British art"
Nominated by: Clive Myrie
Greta Mendez MBE
Movement & Theatre Director, Film Maker, Writer
"Power is about opening up and letting that river of pain and joy and hallelujah flood through"
Nominated by: Freddie Opoku-Addaie
Maureen Roberts
Author and former Learning and Engagement Officer at London Metropolitan Archives
"You can't cover history up and expect the wounds to heal. They have to be lanced, you have to let it ooze out"
Nominated by: Black British Museum Project
DJ Ritu
Broadcaster and DJ
"The language doesn't need to be a barrier. It goes back to this idea of connecting people through music"
Nominated by: Tara Joshi
Hilary S Carty OBE
Director of Clore Leadership
"Great leadership is about finding the balance of authenticity, relevance and context and fitting yourself into a space where you know you can make a difference through your leadership."
Nominated by: Samenua Sesher
Maysaloun Faraj
Painter, Sculptor and Ceramist.
"A painter, ceramist and sculptor that has put Iraqi painting on the map"
Nominated by: We Too Built Britain
Ferdinand Dennis
Author
"When a society doesn't create sufficient space for its citizens, then those citizens will find ways of expressing themselves"
Nominated by: Gary Younge
Rani Moorthy
Writer, performer & Artistic Director of Rasa Productions Ltd
"I didn't realise that the bravest thing to do was to stand alone on stage and tell the story of being a woman brought up in a multiplicity of identities."
Nominated by: Pooja Ghai
Ranjit Sondhi
Public Servant
"I knew more about the mother country than I knew about my own."
Nominated by: Sampad
Horace Ové CBE
Filmmaker, Photographer, Painter and Writer
"A pioneering auteur"
Nominated by: Carl Anka
Suniti Namjoshi
Fabulist
"The industry might have been the same. But I'm a different person, I now know that it is an industry."
Nominated by: Sunny Singh
Stella Dadzie
Feminist historian and education activist
"My role, I felt, was to make that history accessible, make what has largely been an academic debate accessible to a much wider audience"
Nominated by: FHALMA
Judith Jacob
Actress, Writer, Radio presenter
"We must stay true to our own culture, because when you say choose your own culture, other people recognise themselves in the same thing."
Nominated by: Nadine White