The Precious Awards 2009

'It was the best one yet'...that's how our sponsors summed up the 2009 Precious Awards, sponsored by Pearson plc, which took place on November 16.

We had asked our guests to 'dress up' (cryptic huh?) but they truly did us proud as finalists and guests arrived in an array of beautiful dresses and stunning shoes. Our co-host Rasheed Ogunlaru even wore a silver suit!

The first part of the evening bore witness to some furious networking - which is what Precious is all about - over some wine and food - and there was a genuine air of positivity and optimism all around.

Then the awards presentation kicked off (hosted beautifully by Rasheed and Jessica Huie) and for me it all passed in a flurry, thank goodness we recorded it. Some of the most poignant moments included Jessica Elliot, winner of the PRECIOUS Young Entrepreneur of the Year dedicating her award to her friend Daniel De Gale and Jo Behari, the PRECIOUS Entrepreneur of the Year, busting into tears on hearing she had won!

I'm really proud of all our finalists and I was struck by how determined, passionate, humble and indeed how very precious they all were. I wished we could have given awards to all of them, yet as the saying goes and as the judges said repeatedly throughout the judging - they are all winners. Indeed, and we'll be doing our best to support all of them.

Click here for a list of the 2009 PRECIOUS Awards winners

Time to go Bro

I've been a major fan of Big Brother from the start, I even went to Tom's (from BB1) eviction) but even I have to concede that it's time for BB to disappear from our screens - at least for a bit.
It's just plain boring now; everyone seems to have stopped trying, in particular the producers of the show. There are barely any tasks, the housemates are just plain uninteresting - apart from Marcus who looks as if he could tear down the house in a heartbeat if someone upsets him again - and its now just taking up valuable airtime.
Maybe Channel 4 could do somthing crazy and commission some new programmes from some genuine new talent.

And we're off

It's that time of year already, I can hardly belive it, I'm really excited that the Precious Awards 2009 have launched. www.preciousawards.com Bring on those brilliant female entrepreneurs of colour!

It's great that we are working with Pearson again (our lovely headline sponsors) and we're being supported by our partners at the British Library too. We've also secured another great line-up of judges. Our presenters are pretty special too (yes that's you Jessica Huie and Rasheed Ogunlaru)

Last years' Precious Awards winners have gone from strength to strength, the latest news is that our Entrepreneurs of the Year, La Diosa, are all set to showcase their beautiful brand at Buckingham Palace this month!!

I'm really looking forward to discovering the entrepreneurs that this year's nominations will bring and maybe gain an insight into the effect the recession has had. on those passionate and strong enough to set up or grow a business.