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The Opportunity Now Awards recognise the advancement of women in the workplace through a celebration of outstanding examples of best practice, innovation and individual achievement. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is proud to partner with Opportunity Now for the Directing Diverse Talent Award for the fourth year running. The Award recognises the individual impact of an HR professional’s ingenuity and determination in driving diversity forward in their organisation.

The opportunity to enter applications is now open and any employer with a UK presence is eligible to enter, the deadline for submission is Wednesday 7 December 2011. A panel of expert judges will review the applications and score individuals against a scale of best practice. The award winners will be announced at the Opportunity Now Awards Dinner in London on Wednesday 18 April 2012. Organisations that achieve the highest overall scores will be included in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women list.

Last year’s winner of the Directing Diverse Talent Award was Caroline Stroud, Employment Partner and Global HR Partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Ms Stroud succeeded in presenting the business case for a diverse talent strategy. She developed an action plan to improve gender diversity including an initiative to provide unconscious bias awareness training to all partners, which ensured a fair and open way to develop talent.

Dianah Worman, CIPD Diversity Adviser and expert on the judging panel, says: “In a difficult economic climate it is even more important for employers to sharpen up their approaches to recruiting and developing people from as diverse a pool of talent as possible. This is the only way to compete successfully in the global marketplace. Our research shows that personnel professionals are well placed to deliver useful insights into developing a sustainable agenda for diversity within the organisation and that they should use their influencing skills to do this.
“I hope HR practitioners that feel they are making a difference by engaging their organisations in driving the diversity agenda will enter the competition as a way of celebrating their successes.”

Awards categories include:
• The Advancing Women in the Workplace Award
• The Agile Organisation Award
• The Champion Award
• The Directing Diverse Talent Award (in partnership with the CIPD)
• The Global Award
• The Inclusive Culture Award
• The Santander Award: Inspiring the Workforce of the Future

• For further information on the Awards visit: www.opportunitynow.org.uk/celebrate
• Opening up talent for business success: integrating talent management and diversity is available to members only but press can request a copy from the press office at www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/research/talent-business-success-integrating-talent-management-diversity.aspx