We are excited to announce the nominations for the Visionary Honours, taking place on 1st March 2022. The awards will be hosted by Sir Lenny Henry and will be held at BAFTA 195, Piccadilly in London’s West End.
The Visionary Honours are the UK’s only awards show dedicated to celebrating social impact through popular culture and the arts, including celebrities, influencers and community workers who have inspired change. The third edition of the awards will highlight people and works created both nationally and internationally.
From diversity and inclusion, to mental health awareness and the climate crisis, the Visionary Honours showcases that people can create a positive change through film, television, music, literature, podcasts, theatre and their social media platforms.
The nominations for the upcoming awards were selected by a panel of judges made up of leading authors, journalists, critics, writers, editors, producers and activists including: Adrian Grant, Be Manzini, Boyd Hamilton, Emily Jupp, Guy Lodge, Joanna Abeyie, Paul Taylor-Mills, Rhianna Dhillon and Yasmin Evans.
Due to the ceremony being postponed during lockdown last year, nominations for the 2022 awards are based on a selection of work released in the UK from 1st June 2020 to 14th November 2021.
Below is this year’s shortlist:
BOOK OF THE YEAR
- Brown Baby: A Memoir of Race, Family & Home – Nikesh Shukla
- Consumed: A Sister’s Story – Arifa Akbar
- Maybe I Don’t Belong Here – David Harewood
- One Of Them: Eton College Memoir – Musa Okwonga
- Superheroes – Sophia Thakur, Denzell Dankwah
- The How – Yrsa Daley-Ward
FILM OF THE YEAR
- County Lines
- Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
- Herself
- Limbo
- Passing
- Rocks
DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
- Ashley Banjo: Britain in Black and White – ITV
- Greta Thunberg: A Year To Change The World – BBC1
- Gunda
- Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power – BBC3
- The Reason I Jump
- Will i Am: The Blackprint – ITV
TV SHOW OF THE YEAR
- Dreaming Whilst Black – BBC3
- Eastenders – BBC1
- I May Destroy You – BBC1
- It’s A Sin – Channel 4
- Sex Education – Netflix
- Stephen – ITV
SONG OF THE YEAR
- By Any Means – Jorja Smith
- Feet Don’t Fail Me Now – Joy Crookes
- Hear My Voice – Celeste
- I Just Wanna Live – Keedron Bryant
- Introvert – Little Simz
- Peng Black Girls – Enny
PLAY/MUSICAL OF THE YEAR
- Death of England: Delroy – Clint Dyer & Roy Williams
- J’Ouvert – Yasmin Joseph
- Leopoldstadt – Tom Stoppard
- Pass Over – Antoinette Nwandu
- The Color Purple – Marsha Norman
- Tokyo Rose – Maryhee Yoon & Cara Baldwin
- Maryland – Lucy Kirkwood
PODCAST OF THE YEAR
- Everyday People – Ian Wright
- Extraordinary People – Katie Piper
- Growing Up With Gal-Dem – Natty Kasambala & Niellah Arboine
- Masala Podcast – Sangeeta Pillai
- Shade – Lou Mensah
- VENT Documentaries
COMMUNITY PERSON OF THE YEAR
- Eleanor Lisney – Sisters of Frida
- Faron Paul – Faz Amnesty
- Grace Francis – DramED
- Polly Kemp – Era 50:50
- Ryan J. Matthews-Robinson – Poetic Unity
- Sabah Ahmedi – The Young Imam
MOST INSPIRING PERSON OF THE YEAR
- Ashley Banjo
- Elliot Page
- Lashana Lynch
- Marcus Rashford
- Rose Ayling-Ellis
- Tom Daley
Adrian Grant, Founder of Visionary Arts Foundation, has said: “The Visionary Honours celebrates the amazing work of creators across the arts, activists and community workers who are using their talent and platforms to make a difference. It’s been an incredibly challenging 18 months for the entertainment and media industries, but we want to highlight the people who have stepped up to create work with social impact at the heart of the creative process and tell inspirational stories at a time when the world seems most divided. Through our foundation we empower the next generation of creators to use their platforms to highlight a variety of social injustices around the world and bring about change.”
Sir Lenny Henry has said: “I am thrilled to be returning to host the Visionary Honours. These awards are about shining a light on writers, directors and producers who are creating work that is reflective of the diverse society we live in and telling stories that can have a positive impact on our communities. ”
