The Shine Awards 2010 took place last week, on 21 January...and what a night it was! 

The evening suitably started with a glass of 'bubbly' and when the audience was asked to sit down we welcomed the first two of a series of inspirational ladies, the Rt Hon Margaret Hodge, MBE MP Minister for Culture and Tourism and Sandie Dawe, MBE, CEO  of VisitBritain.  The Minister pointed out that there are still too many women who do not achieve their best potential (and the top of the industry)because of a mix of choice, lack of confidence and discrimination. She also stressed that whilst helpful, legislation is not the panacea..a mindset shift is also required! 

Sandie Dawe delivered an inspirational and heart-felt key note address in which amongst other things she highlighted the importance of having role models and mentors for her professional and personal development.   

When the time came to unveil the stars of the Awards, a total of 13 women were recognised as winners or highly commended by the judges. They displayed great achievements, passion and commitment to the industry, to their business and to their people/communities. But actually it must be said that all finalists were truly amazing and inspirational women!

What struck us the most is how much these women's desire to pursue their dreams and achieve their objectives kept them going even in the face of adversity! Take Katie Thompson (winner, young entrepreneur) for example. She left school with no qualification and was a single mother at 17...ten years later she owns and runs a number of businesses and has over 50 staff. Consider Mary Mulvey, CEO of Greenbox who was highly commended for sustainable tourism projects benefiting small communities in cross border regions of Ireland affected by the Peace Process. Or think of Rita Beckwith (winner, special prize of the jury) who started her river - boating company when the Thames was hardly thought of as a tourists attraction but eventually was instrumental to develop it  from a cottage industry to the highly successful river we see today. And the list could continue...

To al these women we say thank you for sharing your achievements with us and for acting as such powerful role models. We are delighted to have been able to honour you with a Shine Award and hope that it will contribute to your continuous success. You are the living testimony of Eleanor Roosevelt's famous citation “A woman is like a tea bag - you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water” .