On Friday, 16 February, the Gaydio Pride Awards 2024 were held at Hilton Manchester Deansgate, with a ceremony recognising and celebrating the efforts made to better LGBTQ+ lives in the UK.
Fourteen awards were handed out at the glitzy ceremony, with performances from BRIT Award nominee Jazzy, Caity Baser, Talia Mar, Tia Kofi and Ginger Johnson, all hosted by Gaydio’s breakfast show presenters Paris & Dave.
The purple carpet saw appearances from a hoard of celeb guests, including Rhian Sugden, Layton Williams, Andy Burnham, Paul Burrell, Dr Ranj Singh and Ella Morgan – who enjoyed an evening of entertainment and celebration at the iconic Hilton Hotel in Manchester.
Trans Pride Hastings won Grassroots Pride of the Year and Bristol Pride was named Pride Organisation of the Year.
Liverpool’s Emily Waldron, founder of @Emz_Crafts_, was named LGBTQ+ Young Business Person of the Year. Emily is a trans teen advocate and donates all profits towards Pride events in the area or Truk United games where she plays football. Award-winning activist, campaigner and drag queen, Lucky Roy Singh won LGBTQ+ Influencer of the Year.
Alice-Louise Wallace won Volunteer of the Year for her work with Crawley LGBT+, Venue or Event of the Year went to Manchester lesbian bar, Vanilla, and Charity of the Year was awarded to Opening Doors, the UK charity for LGBTQ+ people over 50.
LGBTQ+ Enterprise Award was awarded to Pop’n’Olly, the UK’s leading LGBT+ educational resource, LGBT+ Network NHS Blood and Transplant won Pride Network of the Year and the Transmanian Devils took home LGBTQ+ Club or Sports Team of the Year for their work in advancing inclusivity in sport for LGBTQ+ athletes in Manchester and beyond. And the award for Hilton LGBTQ+ Champion went to Richard Finn, General Manager of Hilton Cambridge City Centre.
Outstanding Entertainment Contribution was awarded to actor and Strictly star Layton Williams and co-founder of UK Black Pride, Phyllis Akua Opoku-Gyimah (Lady Phyll), won the Lifetime Achievement award.
Gaydio were proud to present Music Artist of the Year to BRIT Award winner Becky Hill. The singer-songwriter has had great success since appearing on ITV’s The Voice and is vocal about her mission to normalise queerness through her music.
Becky Hill, upon winning the award said, “Thank you so much to Gaydio for this beautiful award of Music Artist of the Year and for all the support over the years.
“Ever since coming out as queer, I have tried to put queerness at the core of everything I do; touring with some incredible drag acts whilst putting the trans and drag community at the forefront of my live shows. Support like this really means the world – thank you so, so much for Artist of the Year!”
For more information on this year’s Gaydio Pride Awards head to gaydioprideawards.co.uk and keep an eye on social platforms @gaydio for more announcements for next year’s event.