The first ever Gaydio Pride Awards were held at the weekend, celebrating the extraordinary efforts that bring Pride to every corner of the UK, honouring the LGBTQ+ community members & allies making the biggest impacts.
Awards were handed out at the glamorous ceremony at Manchester’s Hilton hotel with performances from top 10 selling artist Raye, a set from dance-legend Sigala, and a showstopping performance from Danny Beard, winner of Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK (Season 4). The prestigious ceremony was hosted by Gaydio’s breakfast show presenters Paris & Dave.
Trans Pride, Brighton, took home the Grassroots Pride of The Year award as the longest running and first ever Trans Pride, and there was a joint award for Major Pride of the Year with Manchester Pride, Birmingham Pride, Brighton + Hove Pride and Pride in London, with all four Major Prides coming together to condemn the world cup in Qatar and human rights abuses against LGBTQ+ people.
Joel Mordi, organiser of the first pride event in Nigeria, was the winner of the Volunteer of the Year award having volunteered with a myriad of nonprofits including UK Black Pride, Crisis UK and National Student Pride.
Employee Pride Network of the Year was awarded to Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust LGBTQ+ Staff Network after the network launched a hospital wide photographic portraiture project to raise the profile and intersectional nature of their own staff LGBTQ+ community.
Trans Radio UK Football Club were honoured with the LGBTQ+ Club or Sports team of the Year award for providing a space for trans people to get playing football in a safe way without having to be subjected to questioning, harassment and doubt.
Great British Bake Off finalist, Janusz Domagala, was awarded LGBTQ+ Champion award. As the first Polish gay baker on Great British Bake Off, Janusz has used his platform to support and promote LGBTQ+ in his bakes and his attire, as well as being the first to use the word transgender on the show.
Filthy Gorgeous, the weekly student night held at The Brewers in Manchester picked up the award for Venue or Event of the Year as the favourite hit night where people in the LGBTQ+ community can come together safely and dance the night away.
Charity of the Year was awarded to George House Trust, to recognise all the work they’ve been doing around HIV and fighting the stigma. The charity has been providing HIV support, advice and advocacy services to improve health outcomes for those affected since 1985. Screenwriter, Russell T Davies, one of the charity’s ambassadors also attended the ceremony.
Gaydio presented Music Artist of the Year to up-and-coming black, lesbian musician Cat Burns, who already had great success with back-to-back hits including ‘Go’ and ‘People Pleaser’, and this weekend will be performing at the 2023 Brit Awards.
Burns said: “I feel honoured to receive this award, being a queer woman and being a queer artist is massive to me. It’s super important to me to be visible and to be there showing the music industry that queer people have been here and we’ve been queer!”
The Lifetime Contribution award went to Peter Tatchell, a human rights campaigner who was arrested in Qatar for promoting the dangers for LGBTQ+ people throughout the World Cup.
Gaydio director, Ian Wallace said: “Last night, the inaugural Gaydio Pride Awards 2023 took place, recognising the fantastic achievements of our community and LGBTQ+ people across the UK. We were thrilled to welcome Raye, Danny Beard and Sigala to the stage as well as the winners who have gone above and beyond for the LGBTQ+ community. It is important to offer an event, open to the public, that is able to showcase everything from the smallest of Pride festivals to trailblazing queer music artists. Bring on 2024!”
