news > 21/03/2009 - Women of Achievement Awards

David Simms presents the award to sisters Rama & Sujata

The Leicestershire Women of Achievement Awards 2009 were held at the Walkers Stadium where sisters Rama and Sujata Bhalla were handed the Leicestershire Woman in the Community accolade after founding charity Konnect9 8 years ago.

The sisters were nominated by Councillor Manjula Sood, Lord Mayor of Leicester and were presented their award by David Simms, District Manager for Leicestershire and Northamptonshire JobCentre Plus, supporters of this award. 

The evening was compared by Kay Alexander, the Midlands Today news presenter, to an audience of more than 300 and was a huge success. 

Cheryl Baker of Bucks Fizz fame was the fantastic guest speaker, treating the audience to an a capella version of Making Your Mind Up, the song that won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest.

Thanks to all the organisers, sponsors and supporters of the awards for recognising the contributions and achievements of so many women across Leicestershire. A special thanks to Allyson Jeffrey of Headstorm Marketing for organising a smooth running and much enjoyed event.

And of course congratulations to all the other winners who were:

Ellen Bianchini – Leicestershire Woman of the Year.  Ellen set up the Spark Children's Arts Festival in 2004. 

Shreenal Ghelani – Young Achiever of the Year.  16 year old Shreenal presents a show on Leicester's Takeover Radio.

Kath Taylor – Woman with determination.  Kath is a Director of Leicester North West Community Forum.

Sarah Cressall – Business Woman of the year.  Sarah founded The Creation Station.

Janet Middleton – Rural Business Woman of the Year.  Janet founded Starchild Shoes.

Awards, Ceremonies and Exhibitions - read Rama's blog

Download the Leicester Mercury article

See more pics of the Awards ceremony on Flickr