Ms. Gurmeet K. Sodhi - Winner of "Sikhs In Entertainment" category at "World Sikh Awards" in London
Ms. Gurmeet K. Sodhi, an icon in the international and entertainment communities, has proved yet again to be one of the most influential woman in the South Asian Media community when she recently won the "World Sikh Awards" in London for "Sikhs in Entertainment" category. She is a television host; producer and one of the youngest South Asian female to launch her own LIVE talk show.
The world's only awards to recognize Sikh contributions across the globe took place last weekend in the UK. The Sikh Awards, were held at the prestigious Hilton Hotel, Park Lane, London on Sunday 9th October 2011. There were hosts of Sikh's acknowledged for their contributions to business, sport, entertainment, charity, the media, service to others and education.
Making onto the list is very difficult and number of factors are taken into account. Hundreds of individuals are nominated worldwide in various categories, then three are handpicked by a panel of esteem judges. Nominations are considered on basis on an individual's excellence in their profession; through their work how the individual is helping their community; and, what impact is their work making on the society.
Ms. Sodhi was the only woman who won an award outside of an all women nominees category, which is an accolade to her and her work. There were several other women who were nominated in other categories with men however, Ms. Sodhi was the only one who took the award home. This is a huge stepping stone for her, and, it also opens many doors for other women in her community to follow suite. Ms. Sodhi has done what no other woman in her community has ever dreamt of, or accomplished to date. Gurmeet has made it a mission to bring entertainment with education and awareness of things around us that affect us on everyday basis. Through her show she wants to inspire people to fulfill their own dreams and fantasies through entertainment that is engaging, uplifting, and of course, fun!
Ms. Sodhi secured the award from two other nominees - Mr. Harjit Singh Hullon from Malaysia who is a television news presenter for last 38 years with RTM, and, Mr. Waris Ahluwalia from USA who is an American Indian actor and jewelry designer. Mr. Ahluwalia is also a well known celebrity in the Indian community after starring in few Hollywood films.
The Sikh Awards was attended by over 700 guests who enjoyed a glamorous awards evening hosted by the BBC Asian Network's Sonia Deol. The judging panel includes Kulveer Singh Ranger who is a British Conservative politician from Boris Johnson's office and currently the Mayor of London's Director of Environment and Digital London. It was a sold out event and done with very traditional Sikh culture and served no alcohol or meat at the event. This was surely something different that has never been done before was very well received by the guests in attendance.
The awards are the brainchild of Navdeep Singh Bansal, director of the Sikh Directory media organization. The Sikh Awards 2011 highlighted all that is good within the Sikh community and was supported by many well known sponsors including BMI, ABN Amro Bank N.V. and Jaguar. Guests from all over the world including Australia, Dubai, USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Africa, Malaysia and India participated in this star studded event this past weekend.