WeAreTechWomen celebrated the winners of the inaugural TechWomen50 awards last night, at a prestigious ceremony at CodeNode, London.
Over 180 winners, sponsors, judges and guests celebrated and enjoyed a champagne and canapé reception. The evening was facilitated by Julia Streets, CEO of Streets Consulting, and attendees were welcomed by Vanessa Vallely, Managing Director, WeAreTheCity and sponsors, Tanya Channing, Worldpay.
Channing used her to speech to sing the praises of the technology industry and how it is branching out. She said, “I’m proud to work in technology with so many inspiring women in the room.”
In her opening speech, Baroness Joanna Shields OBE delivered powerful comments on women’s rights to vote, confidence, internet safety and sexual harassment.
Speaking about the awards, she said, “Tonight we are here to celebrate 50 exceptional women. These are true leaders that are discovering, creating and building great technology in companies all across the UK.
“We recognise the hard fought journey it takes to get here and you are worthy of this special recognition.”
Representatives of each of the award’s sponsors then invited winners to the stage, to collect their awards.
Amali de Alwis, CEO of Code First: Girls, and a former Rising Star winner, delivered the closing speech, which encouraged the winners to take opportunities and to pay it forward.
She left the audience with three pieces of advice. She said, “One is to acknowledge and appreciate what you have achieved.”
“The second thing is, and it sounds a little bit obvious, is to keep moving forwards.”
“The third is to not forget to take other people with you.”
Closing the awards, Vallely implored the audience to network with each other, make new connections and to enjoy the moment.
The TechWomen50 awards are the first of their kind to focus solely on the female tech talent pipeline and to also recognise the impact of champions, companies and networks that are leading the way for the future generations of tech talent.
The winners of these awards showcase remarkable women within the technology sector covering a wide range of roles across a multitude of industries.
In its inaugural year, the awards received over 500 nominations from across the UK and Northern Ireland. The awards were judged by a panel of 20 leading industry figures. Over 15,000 public votes of support were received for the 100 shortlisted nominees. In October, the shortlist was judged once more to help us identify our TechWomen50 winners.
Alongside the individual TechWomen50 winners, the winners of the TechWomen50 Champions, Company of the Year and Network of the Year were also announced.
