And our community truly came together to make this year’s awards a stand-out success. We received over 90 nominations and our in-person awards ceremony, held at Queen Victoria Women’s Centre, Melbourne, on 29 November, was a sell-out.

South Asian women from across Australia – and beyond – gathered together, joined by allies, to recognise emerging and established brown creatives, activists, founders and leaders whose voices and work are a force of good. These included winners Sagina Walyat and Yesha Patel, who flew in from India and New Zealand respectively.

MC’d by actors Menik Gooneratne and Yasmin Kassim, the Awards featured a reading by Naarm-based poet Ibtisam Shahbaz and a keynote by Dr Amandeep Hansra, a practising GP and an expert in digital health and innovation, who was also part of the inspiring line-up of Awards judges alongside Amrit Gill, Creative Program Lead at City of Melbourne, and Chaman Sidhu, former Chief Legal Officer at Xero and now a non-executive director, advisor and legal and governance professional.