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