Woman of Stature Awards kick off

The run-up to the Woman of Stature (WoS) Awards has officially begun. On 30 August, a special media launch was held for the event before this year’s nominees were announced.

This is the sixth year that the awards, which hope to honour remarkable women in a range of different fields, has been held. The final awards gala dinner will take place at the newly renovated Indaba Hotel on 2 November, and on 30 August the hotel was also the venue for the media launch and the announcement of the women nominated this year.

At the launch, a number of stakeholders addressed the media, including Charlotte du Plessis (the chief executive officer and founder of WoS), Shareen Hunter (chief executive officer for the Hunter Group and a former nominee) and LeAnne Dlamini (a singer/songwriter and brand ambassador for the awards).

“Woman of Stature is a platform to mobilise women,” explained Du Plessis during her speech. “We pride our self on supporting nation builders and trainers from across South Africa.”

This year’s awards are different in a number of ways from previously WoS awards – not only is it the first time the event will be held in Fourways but this year a number of new categories have also been included.

“Last year we had seven categories, while this year we have 12 industry-specific categories [such as sport, community, entrepreneurship etc]. There are also two special awards: The Leadership Award and the Honourary Life Achievement Award,” Du Plessis added.

“We’ve really tried to cover as many industries as possible. In terms of nominations – the agricultural category has three nominees, as does the engineering category, while the other categories have between eight and 15 women nominated.”

Dlamini will act as emcee for the awards ceremony later this year, and a number of well-known women (including athlete Nicole Fuller, who has been asked to adjudicate the awards) are involved this year.

Details: Woman of Stature  www.womanofstature.co.za