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Fourth Black Achievers Awards Held - By Davia Mckoy
This year councillor Merlita Bryan held the fourth
Black Achievers Awards in Nottingham. Previously
the Black Achievers Awards was known as the
Black Achieving Men Awards where her vision at
the time was to recognise young black males in
society that were still striving to succeed in what
they were doing and who needed to be recognised
as role models in the community.
She first hosted the Black Achieving Men Awards
around the time the London Riots. Black males were
seen as rebels and were frown upon after the riots
and she wanted to change this. She decided that year
that she would start a trend to recognise black males
and to show others that you don’t have to result to
violence to be seen or heard. In 2011, the first Black
Achieving Men Awards free event was launched and
became a success across Nottingham. Due to her
demands as the Lord Mayor of Nottingham in 2013,
she was unable to continue with it that year but came
back strong in 2016 and it was seen as the event of
the year by the black community.
Merlita Bryan decided to change the name of the
awards this year as she felt that black males are not
the only ones who are to be recognised for what they
are doing, but black females should be appreciated
and recognised as well for the hard work that they
put out into the community. This was where the Black
Achievers Awards found its name.
This year, the Black Achievers Award was held at the
East Midlands Conference Centre in the University
Park Nottingham. The night was filled with positive
vibes from everyone who attended. The atmosphere
was calm and throughout the night everyone was
entertained by a talented performer by the name of
Mr Curtis Walker who was the host at this year’s event
and the crowd was also entertained by the award
winning female saxophonist, Millicent Stephenson
who soothe the audience with songs from old and
new school genres.
Here is a comment from Professor Gina Higginbottom
of The University of Nottingham about this year’s
event:
“It was a very great privilege to present The
University of Nottingham sponsored Health Award
at the Black Achievers Awards ceremony. It was a
fantastic event and the organisation was superb.
Most importantly, the awardees were outstanding
and their narratives impressive; despite her own
personal challenges, Maxine Robinson has gone
on to benevolently establish a self-help group and
charity Support for Survivors, demonstrating exemplary
courage and altruism.”
One of our winners from the Learning, Skills &
Employment Category who is a Matron for the
Ambulatory Care Pathway at the Nottingham
University Hospitals said
“I hope I can inspire others in the Nottingham BME
community to chase their dreams in nursing and
healthcare. We can all step forward in confidence, and
use our talents to improve patient care.”
Councillor Bryan thanks everyone for being involved
with the event and sends out a big thank you to the
sponsors as we couldn’t have done it without their
help.
Councillor Merlita Bryan looks forward to planning
next year’s Black Achievers Awards and hopes to
continue this for many more years to come. If you are
interested in knowing more about the event, please
visit our website at blackachieversaward.co.uk and
you can also click on the links to our social media
pages at the bottom of the website to see photos of
the night.