Meghan Markle could win award after Prince Harry spoke out on ‘unconscious racism’

Meghan Markle could be honoured at this year’s Ethnicity Awards, after her husband Prince Harry spoke out about “unconscious racism”.

The Duchess of Sussex is tipped to win the Inspirational Public Figure prize when the ceremony takes place in London on October 25.

Organisers are in talks with Kensington Palace and hope Meghan will be in attendance at the glittering event.

It comes after Prince Harry’s Vogue interview in which he spoke out about racism.

He said: “Despite the fact that if you go up to someone and say ‘what you’ve just said, or the way you’ve behaved, is racist’ – they’ll turn around and say, ‘I’m not a racist’.

“‘I’m not saying you’re a racist, I’m just saying that your unconscious bias is proving that because of the way that you’ve been brought up, the environment you’ve been brought up in, suggests that you have this point of view – unconscious point of view – where naturally you will look at someone in a different way’. And that is the point at which people start to have to understand.”

The HSBC UK Ethnicity Awards revealed its star-studied shortlist this week. It includes Rochelle Hulmes, Stormzy and Naomi Campbell.

The awards celebrate people in the public eye, charitable organisations and big brands for their commitment to improving the lives of ethnic minorities.

Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Bollywood actress Amy Jackson, and will.i.am are also nominated for gongs.

Manchester City hero, Raheem Sterling, who is a lead campaigner against racism in football, is amongst the big names shortlisted for the Sportsperson accolade.

The Media Impact award has recognised events including Coronation Street ’s first ever black family, newsreader Moria Stuart’s 40 years of broadcasting, Jorja Smith’s show-stopping Brit Awards performance and Michelle Obama becoming the first person of colour to top the UK book charts.

Fashion designers Jimmy Choo, Oswald Boateng and Umar Kamani, the co-founder of PrettyLittleThing.com, have all been recognised with nominations in the entrepreneur category.

Founder of the Ethnicity Awards, Sarah Garrett MBE, said: “The 2019 Ethnicity Awards works to promote the achievements of ethnic minorities and strives to improve lack of representation. In the current social climate, it’s imperative to advocate and celebrate the positive impact of ethnic minorities in the UK.

“It’s great to see so many celebrities, influencers, brands and politicians’ commitment to raising awareness, and who work so hard to improve equality. It is great that Meghan Markle is on the shortlist too, she is an incredible role model for women and girls all over the world.”

The full shortlist:

Influencer

Amy Jackson

Edward Enninful OBE

Henry Golding

Jourdan Dunn

KSI

Leigh-Anne Pinnock

Reggie Yates

Rochelle Hulmes

Stormzy

Tinie Tempah

Inspirational Public Figure

Alesha Dixon

Dev Patel

Gemma Chan

Idris Elba

Sir Lenny Henry

Megan Markle, Duchess of Sussex

Naomi Campbell

Steve McQueen

Thandie Newton OBE

will.i.am

Sportsperson

Ama Agbeze MBE

Anthony Joshua OBE

Denise Lewis OBE

John Barnes MBE

Katarina Johnson Thompson

Mo Farah CBE

Natasha Jonas

Nicola Adams OBE

Nikita Parris

Raheem Sterling

Political Figure

Cllr Anna Rothery

David Lammy MP

Marsha De Cordova MP

Marvin Rees

Cllr Muhammed Butt

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP

Sadiq Khan

Lord Tariq Mahmood Ahmad

Baroness Valerie Amos

Lord Waheed Alli

Media Impact

Season 2 of ‘Pose’ airs on FX

Himesh Patel’s lead role in the movie ‘Yesterday’

Ava DuVernay’s ‘When They See Us’ premieres on Netflix

ITV’s Coronation Street welcomes its first black family – The Baileys

Moira Stuart OBE celebrates 40 years of broadcasting as the first black female African-Caribbean newsreader on British television

Ben Hunte appointed by the BBC as the broadcaster’s first LGBT+ correspondent

Jorja Smith’s outstanding performance at the Brit Awards

Adil Rashid and Eoin Morgan’s “Allah was with us” quote after their Cricket World Cup win

The Big Asian British Summer series airs on the BBC

Michelle Obama becomes the first person of colour to top the UK Christmas book chart

Charity or Community Initiative

Anthony Walker Foundation

Black Pride UK

Creative Access

Girl Dreamer

Mandela8

ReachOut

Refugee Action

Runnymede Trust

Chineke Foundation

The Other Box

Brand

ASOS

Fenty Beauty

Huggies

L’oreal

Monzo

Netflix

Nike

Sky

Vodafone

Zara

Outstanding Contribution

Adam Abdullah

Akeela Ahmed MBE

Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE

Mark Trevor Phillips OBE

Nimco Ali OBE & Leyla Hussein OBE

Patrick Vernon OBE

Phyll Opoku-Gyimah

Samantha Asumadu

Shelina Janmohamed

Sir Simon Woolley

Charity or Community

Anthony Walker Foundation

Chineke Foundation

Creative Access

Girl Dreamer

Mandela 8

Refugee Action

Runnymede Trust

ReachOut

The Other Box

UK Black Pride

Entrepreneur

Amit Gudka and Hayden Wood, Bulb Energy

Eddie Lim, Mango Tree Group

Chieu Cao & Saurav Chopra, Perkbox

Jimmy Choo, fashion designer

Oswald Boateng, fashion designer

Rajeeb Dey MBE, Enternships

Rami Ranger CBE, Sunmark

Seema Malhotra, Forever Unique

Steven Bartlett, Social Chain Group

Umar Kamani, Pretty Little Thing

BAME Inspirational Leader

Asif Bhatti, Whitbread PLC

Chief Inspector Karen Geddes, West Midlands Police

Edleen John, KPMG

Jatin Patel, TSB

Judy Kawaguchi, Moody’s

Geeta Nanda, Metropolitan Thames Valley

Mandeep Heer, Telefonica O2 UK

Rupal Kantaria, Oliver Wyman

Sarah Nelson, Sainsbury’s

Syed Bashir Ahmad, Halkin Investments LLP

BAME Future Leader

Alan Leung, Macquarie Group

Aneesa Khan, Ashurst LLP

Christine G Ondimu, HSBC UK

Dennis Owusu-Sem, BMO Global Asset Management

Donna Fraser, UK Athletics

Guled Yusuf, Allen & Overy

Katie George, Amazon Web Services

Kush Unadkat, Dentsu Aegis Network

Movell Dash, Financial Conduct Authority

Shalah Akhtar, PwC

BAME Workplace Hero

Adegboyega Akin-Deko, Santander

Gift Ajimokun, Penguin Random House

Isabella Silvers, Hearst UK

Jat Bains, Macfarlanes LLP

Rina Madlani, Fujitsu

Sandra Clough, BNP Paribas

Sereena Abbassi, MC Saatchi

Sharon Salmon, Network Rail

Sheree Atcheson, Deloitte

Yinka Bolaji, RBS

Network Group (ERG)

Adobe Black Employee Network, Adobe

African & Caribbean Professional Network, Rolls-Royce

CBAME Network, Capgemini

GMB Race, GMB

Kaleidoscope, L&Q

Multicultural Affinity Network, Balfour Beatty

ONE, National Grid

Race to the Top, Civil Service

The Accenture African Caribbean Network (AACN), Accenture

The Collective, Channel 4

Champion (Ally)

Ben Tidswell, Ashurst LLP

Claude Brown, Reed Smith LLP

Fiona Cannon OBE, Lloyds Banking Group

Georgia Arnold, Viacom International Media Networks

Ileana Sodani, BNY Mellon

Jackie Uhi, HSBC UK

Martin Etheridge, Bank of England

Paula Stannett, Heathrow

Paul Holland, Dentons

Sarah Aitken, Legal & General

Outstanding Employer

Allen & Overy

Channel 4

Freshfields

HSBC UK

KPMG

Lloyds Bank

Macfarlanes LLP

National Grid

RBS

Viacom International Media Networks

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