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21st Century Icon Awards 2021: Winners list

The 21st Century Icon Awards, which celebrates its fifth year of recognising individual excellence from across the globe, has announced the 11 winners from this year’s cohort. The prestigious annual event took place in London on Friday 10th December and was hosted by Olympian Denise Lewis and Nitin Ganatra Actor. Partners of the awards include Coca-Cola, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jack Barclay Bentley.

The 21st Century Icon Awards was launched in 2017 by Co Founders Tarun Ghulati, President and Chief Executive Officer and Preeti Rana, Chief Creative Officer at Squared Watermelon Ltd. Ghulati and Rana aim to use the awards to draw attention to the work of exceptional entrepreneurs, philanthropists, tech pros, media personalities and more, to provide them with esteemed recognition on a global stage. As well as a platform to build out a network of the next generation of leaders that are making positive strides in their field. With a focus on the endeavours and achievements of young people developing sustainable and transformative solutions to impact their future, some of the previous winners have included Adolfo Cambiaso World Number 1 Professional Polo Player, Argentina, Chris Gayle Professional Cricketer, Jamaica, Sonu Nigam Singer, India, Shanker Mahadevan Singer, India, Sanjeev Gupta Steel Mining, Australia.

21st Century Icon award Founders Tarun Ghulati and Preeti Rana said, “It is truly an honour to be able to celebrate and recognise these remarkable and diverse people on one stage here in London. We created these awards to represent the world we live in and those that are drivers for change, inspiring others and at the forefront of innovation. We are extremely grateful for the unwavering support from our judges, partners and wider team to ensure that over the past five years this vision of recognising excellence becomes a reality.”

The 11 winners were whittled down from 30 finalists and close to 300 submissions from the following regions: South America, Africa, Europe, Indian Sub-Continent, North America, Middle East and Asia. The esteemed judges of this year’s awards include Rt Hon. Baroness Verma of Leicester, Member of the House of Lords, David Sayer, Vice Chair KPMG, Nick Ogden, Founder and Chairman ClearBank and Denise Lewis OBE, Olympic Champion,

The winners list in full below

Magnificent Performing Arts Award: Terry Stone (UK) has starred in 33 films and television series over the past 18 years and produced 30 films to date working with all the major Hollywood studios. Terry was also the biggest award winning Club promoter in the world from 1993-2003 creating and promoting ‘One Nation’ and ‘Garage Nation’, brands.

Exquisite Art Award: Amish Tripathi (India) is a successful author and a senior diplomat. He has written 9 books to date which have sold over 5.5 million copies worldwide and translated into 20 languages. His Shiva Trilogy is the fastest selling book series and his Ram Chandra Series is the second fastest selling book series in Indian publishing history.

Outstanding Media & Entertainment Award: Amit Goenka (India) is the President, Digital Businesses & Platforms, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd with a presence in over 190 countries, 120 + Channels. Under Amit’s leadership, ZEE5 has become the biggest publisher of digital content in India.

Squared Watermelon Award: Adema Sangale (Kenya) at just 27 became the youngest regional CEO of Procter & Gamble. Currently an Operating Partner of a private equity fund investing in Eastern Africa as well as the Managing Partner at C.Suite Africa. She also sits on several boards. Since 2005, she has worked tirelessly with governments across Africa and globally on ‘Keeping Girls in School’, her initiative to remove taxes from sanitary pads, thereby allowing girls not to miss 4-5 days of school each month.

Innovator Technology Award: Diana Paredes (Peru, UK) founded Suade in 2014, a technology company providing RegTech solutions to the financial services industry. Diana has recognised the untapped potential of innovation in the use of standards and automation technology in regulatory reporting. Diana was recognised as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer in 2018 at Davos and a World Economic Global Innovator in 2020.

Savvy Luxury Award: Nick Bassi (UK) founded Childsplay in 1990 which has since grown from a small Essex boutique to a global online destination for luxurious fashion for kids, carrying designer labels, serving a host of A-list celebrities from around the globe. Childsplay has seen significant double digit growth through 2020 and into 2021, employs over 100 staff and ships to over 160 countries.

Relentlessly Resolute Award: Per Wimmer ( Denmark, UK) is a financier, entrepreneur, philanthropist, space advocate, astronaut and author. Per runs his own Wimmer Family Office, the Wimmer Wealth Protection Fund, Wimmer Financial, an investment bank and Wimmer Horizon, an award winning hedge fund. Through Wimmer Space, he supports various charities in the UK and Denmark.

Per is also a founding astronaut with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. He has bought a private island in the Danish sea for wildlife reproduction and conservation.

Ardent Techie Award: Simay Dinc (Turkey) is the co-founder of Recontact Games and game producer of Recontact: Istanbul, a mobile game. The Game has won several awards and featured in 153 countries. Simay has also created Recontact:Istanbul Eyes of Sky, the first cinematographic mobile game in the world.

Competitive Sports Award: Ramla Ali is a Somali , model, author and racial equality activist. She is the first Somali boxer in history to compete at the Olympic Games and the first female to become a professional boxer.

Generous Philanthropist Award: Rakesh Tikait is a prominent farmer leader in india. In 1994, he joined the Bharatiya Kisan Union founded by his father. He has focused his life on advocating and uplifting farmers.

Competitive Sports Award: Ronnie O’Sullivan OBE (UK) is a 6 time World Snooker Champion. A record 7 times Masters Champion, a record 7 time UK Champion. He has won a record 20 triple crown titles. He also holds the record for the most ranking titles in the sports, with 37. A true legend.