WACL (Women in Advertising Communications Leadership) has announced the winners of this year’s 19th annual WACL Talent Awards, in partnership with NABS.

As part of the organisation's ongoing work to champion women in the advertising industry and push forward gender equality the awards provide practical financial support for women in the industry. This year’s awards saw 29 women chosen from 172 applications. Each of the winners will receive bursaries of up to £1,500 each to fund a training course of their choice. 

The WACL Talent Awards were launched by Tess Alps in 2005 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 over 225 women have received bursaries totalling over £450,000.

The awards aim to help push toward greater female representation in leadership by providing the funds for women to invest in training and education. Entrants spanned a mix of ages, backgrounds and locations. They came from a range of companies such as media and creative agencies, brands, tech platforms, startups and more. 

This year saw the most diverse set of courses chosen with only 25% of courses about leadership compared to 60% last year. Other courses ranged from sustainability, behaviour change, to brand strategy and NLP.

All winners will also receive a membership to the Futures networking group, created and run by alumni of the Awards and a copy of Kathryn Jacob’s book, Belonging.

WACL is also awarding The Wendy Braverman Award, in honour of a dedicated supporter of NABS and long term WACL member. The award, which was introduced in 2021, is given to a Talent Award winner who truly reflects Braverman’s entrepreneurial flair. The judges awarded two women this year: Anisa Morridadi, Founder and Exec Chair of Beatfreeks and Natalie Moores, Co-founder of Mac&Moore. 

On winning the award, Morridadi said: “Winning the WACL Talent Award is recognition that I am a leader and a trusted voice in this space. I'm so excited to join this coven of epic, powerful women who will help guide me through this next part of my journey.” 

Moores added: “I started my career as the only woman in the room, which led me to think for a while that I needed to be the loudest voice in the room, I now support anything that puts different voices into the room, as that sparks the best conversations.”

One exceptional winner is also 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. This year’s winner is Kenny Dada, Account Director at VCCP.