Llais Awards is back to celebrate Welsh businesswomen and inspire other women to go for it!
Today, on International Women's Day, Llais Cymru is excited to launch our second #LlaisAwards to celebrate the important contribution and successes of businesses women across Wales.
Last year, we saw an incredible response to the first ever Llais Cymru Awards for Welsh Women in Business, known as the #LlaisAwards. There were an amazing 1,154 nominations in the 15 categories and a chance to celebrate women in all kinds of fields: from the hospitality industry to science, from health, fitness and wellbeing businesses to the creative sectors and beyond. It was a fun and an emotional night, with winners from across Wales being virtually rewarded and recognized after an extremely challenging year.
Heulwen Davies, Director of Llais Cymru, said "Celebrating, supporting, and inspiring women is extremely important to me on a personal level, business level and as a ‘Mam’ to my young daughter. Last year's response proved the need for a national event that focuses on the valuable contribution of women in all kinds of businesses across Wales. Businesswomen don’t receive the credit they deserve, and I wanted to change this. The event has given nominees and winners a big boost and I was really excited that it inspired others to follow their own business dreams too. I'm looking forward to seeing who will be nominated this year”.
One of the winners in 2021 was Katy Hayward from Felin Honeybees in North Wales; "Being nominated in the Llais Cymru Awards was amazing and winning the food and drink category was a privilege. There is not enough recognition and attention given to women running businesses, and we push so hard and juggle a lot. I was so happy to win, it meant the world and was a huge boost”
The winner of the Welsh Language Champion category was Anwen Robets from Draenog in Mid Wales; “I never imagined I would be nominated and winning this category was amazing! It was a great boost for me and a chance to meet many businesswomen across Wales and hear about their amazing stories. A special and memorable event.”
Awen Haf Ashworth from Sbarduno won two awards in 2021! She won both the Mother in Business Award and Science, Engineering and Technology award; “It was a privilege to win the Science, Engineering and Technology award, I'm passionate about making science fun. Winning the ‘Mother in business’ award for my sons was both motivating and helped me create content during the lockdown. Thank you to Llais Cymru for organising and celebrating our important contribution to the business sector in Wales”.
This year, we have made a few changes to the categories to reflect the ever-changing world of business, and to ensure that as many women as possible are always represented. New categories include 'Fabulous Free-lancers', 'New Business', 'Green Business' and ' Women Under 25'.
Another exciting development is that young presenter Mirain Iwerydd, a well-known voice on BBC Radio Cymru and a familiar face on S4C's Hansh programs, will co-present the #Llais Awards with Heulwen. Like last year the awards evening will be held online on July 8th, featuring live entertainment from a special Welsh artist and a few other fun surprises too! Watch this space!
From today onwards, you can nominate the women in the various categories, by completing the bilingual nomination form on our website - www.llaiscymru.wales. The shortlist will be announced in June and the winners will be announced live at the event on the 8th of July, each winning an unique commissioned prize by Llais Cymru, created by the artist Hanna Harris from Cardiff.
For further information or to arrange interviews, get in touch with Heulwen on post@llais.cymru / 07817591930.