The British Inspiration Awards (BIAs) are a set of industry awards celebrating achievement in the creative industries of the United Kingdom, organised by David Yarnton, the UK managing director for

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

. The inaugural awards took place at a ceremony in London on 23 April 2010. The awards, in the shape of a gold statue of

Boudica Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She ...

, were presented in a number of categories including art, design, entertainment, fashion and science. All proceeds of the awards are to be donated to various charities.

History

With the UK in a recession in the late 2000s, and with a steadily declining manufacturing industry and little natural resources, the creative sector was believed to be the basis for future growth, and was as of 2010 was estimated to already contribute £110billion to the economy per annum, contribute two million jobs, and number over businesses classed as creative. The BIAs were initiated by David Yarnton, the UK managing director for

. He was of the opinion that "The UK is the creative capital of the World" and it was "about time that the UK creative sector was recognised for its achievements". He was of the belief that, although a world leader in the creative industries, Britain had a tendency to understate its achievements, and thus sought to correct that. The BIAs were therefore created to recognise those who have already contributed to Great Britain's "economic, social and artistic development through creative endeavor", and highlight the opportunities Britain offered in the creative industries. On the eve of the

2010 United Kingdom general election The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom unde ...

campaign, on 16 March 2010 the BIAs attracted the support of the Prime Minister

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

, Conservative Party leader

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

and Liberal Democrat Party leader

Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicepr ...

. The inaugural BIAs were to be presented in a daytime ceremony at The Brewery near

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

in London on 23 April 2010 ( St George's Day). The nominees in each category were announced on 14 April 2010. Attendees of the ceremony, hosted by

Richard Madeley Richard Holt Madeley ( born 13 May 1956) is an English television presenter and writer. Alongside his wife Judy Finnigan, he presented '' This Morning'' and the chat show ''Richard & Judy''. Madeley's solo projects include the ITV series '' Fort ...

, included nominees David Arnold, Michael Eavis and Gareth Pugh, as well as Phillip Schofield,

Ant and Dec Ant & Dec are a British television presenting duo, consisting of Anthony McPartlin (born 18 November 1975) and Declan Donnelly (born 25 September 1975), from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Formed after their meeting as child actors on CBBC's dr ...

, Helen Skelton and Andy Akinwolere.

The Award

The BIA is given "In recognition of an individual, company or groups contribution to the Creative Economy of Great Britain and the Inspiration that they give to others". Individual awards are to be presented in categories for the Film; Television; Music; Fashion; Arts; Design; Innovation, Enterprise and Industry; Science and Technology; and Interactive Entertainment industry sectors, as well as a Special Recognition award. The BIAs use the symbol of

as their logo and award. Described by the BIA organisers as a "forward looking woman who inspired others around her", Boudica was a queen of the ancient tribe of the

Iceni The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were a Brittonic tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the we ...

of present-day

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, who in AD 60 or 61 led them and neighbouring tribes in a revolt against the authority of

Gaius Suetonius Paulinus Gaius Suetonius Paulinus (fl. AD 41–69) was a Roman general best known as the commander who defeated the rebellion of Boudica. Early life Little is known of Suetonius' family, but it likely came from Pisaurum (modern Pesaro), a town on the Adri ...

, the Roman Governor of Britain, before ultimately being defeated. The award itself is a gold statue of the stylised version of Boudica depicted in the BIA logo. The logo shows this stylistic representation of Boudica moving forward using four shades of colour, symbolising England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland "moving forward together as one."

Judges

The BIA committee headed by Yarnton is made up of: Chairman: David Yarnton – Russ Lindsay – Wendy Malem – Tom George –

Nicola Mendelsohn Nicola Mendelsohn CBE (née: Clyne; born 29 August 1971) is a British advertising executive. Active in the advertising industry since 1992, she was named vice-president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Facebook in June 2013. In 2021, N ...

– Philip Snape – Allan McLaughlin – Adam Clyne – Chris Maples – Caroline Taylor – Elisabeth Murdoch – Richard Desmond – Sir George Martin – Colonel Ben Farrell MBE – Lord Michael Grade – Lucian Grange CBE – Cilla Snowball CBE – Ian Livingstone OBE – Sir Terence Conran – Baroness Susan Greenfield

Beneficiaries

The proceeds of the BIAs were to be donated to charity through the Dallaglio Foundation and GamesAid. Through the Dallaglio Foundation, a charitable foundation set up by the ex-England rugby player

Lawrence Dallaglio Lorenzo Bruno Nero Dallaglio (born 10 August 1972), known as Lawrence Dallaglio, is an English retired rugby union player, former captain of England, and 2016 inductee of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. He played as a flanker or number eight ...

, the major beneficiary of the BIAs proceeds would be Cancer Research UK, with money also going to Help for Heroes (for the

UK Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, su ...

), the

Rugby Players' Association The Rugby Players Association (RPA) is a trade union representing athletes who currently play or have played rugby union in England at a professional or semi-professional level. The RPA is the representative body and collective voice of profession ...

Benevolent Fund,

Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research Blood Cancer UK, (formerly Bloodwise, Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and the Leukaemia Research Fund) is a UK-based charity dedicated to funding research into all blood cancers including leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma, as well as offering informatio ...

and

DebRA Debra is a feminine given name. Debra may refer to: People * Debra Adelaide (born 1958), Australian writer * Debra Allbery (born 1957), American poet * Debra R. Anderson (1949-2022), American politician * Debra Austin (born 1955), American bal ...

(for Epidermolysis bullosa), while GamesAid, a UK charity, is a distributor of charitable funds from the video games industry to children's charities predominantly operating in the UK.

Nominees and Winners

* Winners in bold.

Film

* Richard Curtis CBE, film and television writer and director *

Sir Ian McKellen Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...

CH, CBE, stage and screen actor * Nick Park CBE, animator, creator of Wallace and Gromit

Television

* Elisabeth Murdoch, founder of production company Shine Limited * Sir David Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, broadcaster and naturalist *

Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, (born 6 October 1939), is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is best known for his work with ITV as editor and presenter of ''The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010), and for the BBC Radio 4 documenta ...

, broadcaster, host of '' The South Bank Show''

Music

* Sir George Martin CBE, producer of all but one of The Beatles albums * Gareth Malone, choirmaster and broadcaster, subject of '' The Choir television series'' *

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

, producer, musician, songwriter * David Arnold, film composer

Fashion

* Alexander McQueen CBE, (posthumous nomination), fashion designer *

Gareth Pugh Gareth Pugh (born 31 August 1981) is an English fashion designer"Gareth Pugh: Fashion Designer."

, fashion designer * Nick Knight, fashion photographer, founder of

SHOWstudio.com Nicholas David Gordon Knight OBE (born 24 November 1958) is a British fashion photographer and founder and director of SHOWstudio.com. He is an honorary professor at University of the Arts London and was awarded an honorary Ph.D. by the same u ...

Arts

Matthew Bourne Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is an English choreographer whose work includes contemporary dance and dance theatre. Choreographer In 2007, Bourne contemplated a gay version of ''Romeo and Juliet''. Despite the succ ...

OBE, ballet dancers and choreographer *

Antony Gormley Sir Antony Mark David Gormley (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His works include the ''Angel of the North'', a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; ''Another Pla ...

OBE, sculptor, creator of '' The Angel of the North'' * Zaha Hadid CBE, architect * Damien Hirst, conceptual artist

Design

* Jonathan Ive CBE, designer for Apple Inc * Sir Norman Foster OM, architect, founder of Foster and Partners *

Sir Terence Conran Sir Terence Orby Conran (4 October 1931 – 12 September 2020) was an English designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer. He founded the Design Museum in Shad Thames, London in 1989 The British designer Thomas Heatherwick said that Conran ...

, designer, restaurateur, retailer, writer

Innovation, Enterprise and Industry

* Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur, founder of Virgin Group *

Sir James Dyson Sir James Dyson (born 2 May 1947) is a British inventor, industrial designer, farmer, and billionaire entrepreneur who founded Dyson Ltd. He is best known as the inventor of the dual cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the princip ...

, inventor, founder of Dyson * Sir Tim Berners-Lee, OM, KBE, computer scientist, inventor of the World Wide Web

Science and Technology

Baroness Susan Greenfield Susan Adele Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield, (born 1 October 1950) is an English scientist, writer, broadcaster and member of the House of Lords (since 2001). Her research has focused on the treatment of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's dise ...

CBE, Professor of Synaptic Pharmacology at Oxford University * Sir James Lovelock CH, CBE, scientist, environmentalist and futurologist, proposer of the

Gaia hypothesis The Gaia hypothesis (), also known as the Gaia theory, Gaia paradigm, or the Gaia principle, proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that help ...

Matt McGrath Matthew John "Matt" McGrath (December 28, 1875 – January 29, 1941) was a member of the Irish American Athletic Club, the New York Athletic Club, and the New York City Police Department. At the time of his death at age 64, he attained the ran ...

, founder of Aircraft Medical medical device company

Interactive Entertainment

* Ian Livingstone OBE, fantasy writer, co-founder of

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake (gam ...

* Sam Houser, video game developer, co-founder of Rockstar Games *

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

and David Darling, video game developers, founders of Codemasters

Special recognition

* Michael Eavis CBE, farmer, founder of

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

* Sir David Attenborough (see Television) * Sir Richard Branson (see Innovation) *

Dame Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she m ...

DBE, fashion designer

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , url=http://www.wireimage.com/gallerylisting.asp?navtyp=gls

428957&source=rss&nbc=1 , title=The British Inspiration Awards – Arrivals , publisher=WireImage , date=23 April 2010 , accessdate=23 April 2010 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605172244/http://www.wireimage.com/gallerylisting.asp?navtyp=gls%3D%3D%3D%3D428957&source=rss&nbc=1 , url-status=dead , archivedate=5 June 2011 , df=dmy-all {{cite web , url=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/38688/Livingstone-honoured-at-British-Inspiration-Awards , title=Livingstone honoured at British Inspiration Awards , work=MCV UK , date=23 April 2010 , accessdate=23 April 2010 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100426050726/http://www.mcvuk.com/news/38688/Livingstone-honoured-at-British-Inspiration-Awards , url-status=dead , archivedate=26 April 2010 , df=dmy-all ''Daily Express'' (print edition), The British World-Beaters, 14 April 2010 {{cite web , url=http://www.express.co.uk/features/view/169115/The-British-world-beaters , title=The British World-Beaters , work=Daily Express , author=Adrian Lee , date=14 April 2010 , accessdate=16 April 2010 {{cite web , url=http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/cultural-capital/2010/04/arts-issue-politicians-major , title=Why the arts matter , work=New Statesman , date=8 April 2010 , accessdate=16 April 2010 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100411072827/http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/cultural-capital/2010/04/arts-issue-politicians-major , archivedate=11 April 2010 , url-status=dead , df=dmy {{cite press release , url=http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/store/bia-pr-20100316.pdf , title=First UK creative industries awards launched with cross-party leader backing , publisher=British Inspiration Awards , date=16 March 2010 , accessdate=16 April 2010 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911063708/http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/store/bia-pr-20100316.pdf , archivedate=11 September 2011 , url-status=dead , df=dmy {{cite web , url=http://www.gamesaid.org/about.php , title=About , publisher=GamesAid , work=gamesaid.org > About , date=n.d. , accessdate=16 April 2010 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305072803/http://www.gamesaid.org/about.php , archivedate=5 March 2010 , url-status=dead , df=dmy {{cite web , url=http://www.dallagliofoundation.com/about-us/benefitting-charities/other-organisations , title=Other organisations , publisher=The Dallaglio Foundation , work=dallagliofoundation.com > About the Foundation > Benefitting charities > Other organisations , date=n.d. , accessdate=16 April 2010 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100202055309/http://www.dallagliofoundation.com/about-us/benefitting-charities/other-organisations , archivedate=2 February 2010 , url-status=dead , df=dmy {{cite web , url=http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/committee.html , title=Committee , publisher=British Inspiration Awards , date=n.d. , accessdate=16 April 2010 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308114215/http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/committee.html , archivedate=8 March 2010 , url-status=dead , df=dmy {{cite web , url=http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/awards.html , title=Award categories , publisher=British Inspiration Awards , date=n.d. , accessdate=16 April 2010 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308114630/http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/awards.html , archivedate=8 March 2010 , url-status=dead , df=dmy {{cite web , url=http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/charities.html , title=The Charities , publisher=British Inspiration Awards , date=n.d. , accessdate=16 April 2010 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308114710/http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/charities.html , archivedate=8 March 2010 , url-status=dead , df=dmy {{cite web , url=http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/event.html , title=The Event , publisher=British Inspiration Awards , date=n.d. , accessdate=16 April 2010 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308114235/http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/event.html , archivedate=8 March 2010 , url-status=dead , df=dmy {{cite web , url=http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/about.html , title=About , publisher=British Inspiration Awards , date=n.d. , accessdate=16 April 2010 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308114256/http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/about.html , archivedate=8 March 2010 , url-status=dead , df=dmy {{cite web , url=http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/index.html , title=Home , publisher=British Inspiration Awards , date=n.d. , accessdate=16 April 2010 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323042716/http://www.britishinspirationawards.co.uk/index.html , archivedate=23 March 2010 , url-status=dead , df=dmy 2010 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards established in 2010 Arts awards in the United Kingdom Architecture awards Computer-related awards Design awards Fashion awards Mass media awards Science and technology awards Video game awards