Get involved and #BeAGameChanger

Women's Sport Trust Trustee and Founder of Promote PR, Sue Anstiss, blogs about the Trust's upcoming #BeAGameChangerAwards, celebrating women in sport and encouraging the media spotlight to be shone brighter on women's sport.

Nominations are open for the #BeAGameChangerAwards organised by the Women’s Sport Trust.

The awards, now in their second year, are designed to showcase the incredible talent from across women’s sport, and to highlight the need for media, sponsors and the public to invest at all levels. The awards are organised by The Women’s Sport Trust, a charity that raises the visibility and increases the impact of women’s sport through the promotion of role models, increasing media coverage and improving funding.

It was an incredible 2015. The Newton Women’s Boat Race joined the men on the same stretch of the Thames on the same day. The Women’s Football World Cup – the success of the Lionesses – brought a major sporting event for women to the front pages of the newspapers and to the public’s attention. This Girl Can drove imagery that changed the ‘face’ of women’s sport. SSE announced a four-year sponsorship of the Women’s FA Cup. Tracey Crouch, Sports Minister, proposed a new national sports strategy with a strong focus on women. And now to 2016. Women’s football transfers make the newspapers – they didn’t a year ago – and we’re looking forward to the Olympics in Rio with eager anticipation.

There is still a significant amount of work to be done however, and these awards help continue to raise the profile of women’s sport and celebrate its success. Last year’s event recognised the likes of Nicola Adams MBE, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and BBC Sport for their contributions, with Clare Balding as key note speaker. This year’s awards, sponsored by software giant Microsoft, promise to be even bigger and better.

There’s unstoppable momentum behind the development of women’s sport. Through a commitment to maximising the positive financial impact of this progress, the Women’s Sport Trust is working with investors and sporting groups to accelerate change. For the 2015 awards, over 25,000 public votes were received across eight categories, with 16 finalists from almost 150 nominations. Within the media, athlete, business and political communities, the event helped drive growth in awareness, funding and equality in women’s sport.

The event was oversubscribed, reached an audience of 11 million people in the pre-event activity and close to 103 million post the event. Footage from the evening was used by the BBC and Sky Sports in the celebration of Women’s Sport Week. BT Sport described the #BeAGameChangerAwards as making a “compelling case for future investment, encouraging increased media coverage and bringing together the decision makers who can help make this happen.”

Nominations for the 2nd Annual Women’s Sport Trust #BeAGameChanger Awards are now officially open and this short video has been created to help spread the word (and celebrate female sport).

The nomination process can be completed now and has categories this year for individuals, campaigns, sponsors, organisations and NGBs. Following the nominations, which are open until February 21, entries will be shortlisted to three finalists in each category, with the public vote opening in April.

The winners will be announced at the Women’s Sport Trust #BeAGameChanger Awards in Central London May 12 2016.

The next decade will be key in the future of women’s sport. So visit http://www.womenssporttrust.com/ to nominate who you think deserves to be recognised for their contribution and join us in making this year’s #BeAGameChangerAwards one to remember.

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