At a time when a myriad of data points highlight the disproportionate effect of the ongoing pandemic on women’s careers, as well as many companies freezing training budgets, the push for gender equality feels more vital than ever. A fact that is at the heart of the action-orientated work that WACL is doing across the creative industries.

In partnership with NABS, WACL have been running their Talent Awards, previously known as Future Leader Awards, for the last sixteen years. And this year’s winners are as exceptional as those women who paved the way before them, including 24 women chosen from an applicant base of 214.

The women who win will receive a £3,000 bursary to put towards funding a training course of their choice. Entrants spanned the length and breadth of the UK, across ages and backgrounds, while the number of applicants from outside London increased by 69%.

A stand out theme from this year’s winners was the focus on compassion, particularly poignant after a year in which empathetic leadership has never been more important. Indeed over half of this year’s winners have chosen to focus their training on leadership, particularly developing their style and influence while 44% want to grow their core marketing skills.

“As the UK begins to come out of the pandemic and businesses continue to build new ways of working, many entrants highlighted the significance of female leadership and, crucially, the empathy and compassion women can bring at a time when it is needed most”, said Claire Hilton, Chair of the award committee and Global Brand Director at Virgin. “With training budgets tighter than ever, it’s so important to invest in development for female talent to help women not only reach these leadership positions, but to also succeed once they get to those roles.”

Launched by Tess Alps in 2005, the WACL Talent Award is designed to encourage talented and inspirational women to stop, reflect on and prioritise areas of their development in order to accelerate their careers and achieve their full potential. In the last 16 years, more than 225 women have received bursaries totalling over £350,000.

This year marks the first time WACL is awarding The Wendy Braverman Award, named in honor of a woman who was a champion of talent, dedicated support of NABS and a long time WACL member. Introduced this year, the award is given to one woman who truly reflects Wendy’s entrepreneurial flair. The judges awarded Marcella Collins, Founder and Managing Director at Prompt Marketing Limited, for her “huge amount of passion and impact, focusing on education, sports, students and women in general.”

The judges also called out Susi Castle, Chief Marketing Officer at District 34 to be awarded the annual Patricia Mann Award, for championing change and challenging the status quo to support other women and make a positive impact on the marketing and advertising industry. 

Both Castle and Collins emphasised the need for compassion and for creating space when it comes to future leadership. Castle believes in “creating an environment where everyone can be at their best by being themselves”. For Collins, “it means compassion, flexibility and a desire to create new ways of working that help people to be productive, happy and most importantly, included. It takes a human approach to change and tackle the unknown with kindness, convection and belief”.

It’s this approach to humanity that is at the heart of the work being done by both NABS and WACL, the former to provide vital support and the latter to champion women’s voices at a time when a myriad of data points underline the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus crisis on women’s creative careers.