Brighton wins big at the first ever Gaydio Pride Awards

On Friday night (10th February 2023), the Gaydio Pride Awards were held for the first time ever, celebrating the extraordinary efforts that bring Pride to every corner of the UK, honouring the LGBTQ+ community members & allies making the biggest impacts.

Awards were handed out at the glamorous ceremony held at Manchester’s Hilton hotel with performances from top 10 selling artist Raye, a set from dance-legend Sigala, and a showstopping performance from Danny Beard, winner of Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK (Season 4). The prestigious ceremony was hosted by Gaydio’s breakfast show presenters Paris & Dave.

Brighton left as winners in both of their shortlisted categories, firstly with their joint win of Major Pride of the Year with Brighton + Hove Pride, Birmingham Pride, Manchester Pride and Pride in London. All four Major Prides came together to condemn the world cup in Qatar and the human rights abuse against LGBTQ+ people.

And Trans Pride, Brighton, took home the Grassroots Pride of The Year award as the longest running and first ever Trans Pride.

The winners outside of Brighton included Joel Mordi, organiser of the first pride event in Nigeria, as the winner of the Volunteer of the Year award, Employee Pride Network of the Year was awarded to Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust LGBTQ+ Staff Network, Trans Radio UK Football Club were honoured with the LGBTQ+ Club or Sports team of the Year award, Great British Bake Off finalist, Janusz Domagala, was awarded LGBTQ+ Champion award, Filthy Gorgeous, the weekly student night held at The Brewers in Manchester picked up the award for Venue or Event of the Year and Charity of the Year was awarded to George House Trust.

Gaydio is proud to have presented Music Artist of the Year to up-and-coming black, lesbian musician, Cat Burns who has since gone on to have success with back-to-back hits including ‘Go’ and ‘People Pleaser’ as well as performing at the 2023 Brit Awards.

Cat Burns upon winning the award said: “ I feel honoured to receive this award, being a queer woman and being a queer artist is massive to me. It’s super important to me to be visible and to be there showing the music industry that queer people have been here and we’ve been queer!”

The Lifetime Contribution award went to Peter Tatchell, a human rights campaigner who was arrested in Qatar for promoting the dangers for LGBTQ+ people throughout the World Cup.

Gaydio Director, Ian Wallace said, “Last night, the inaugural Gaydio Pride Awards 2023 took place, recognising the fantastic achievements of our community and LGBTQ+ people across the UK. We were thrilled to welcome Raye, Danny Beard and Sigala to the stage as well as the winners who have gone above and beyond for the LGBTQ+ community. It is important to offer an event, open to the public, that is able to showcase everything from the smallest of Pride festivals to trailblazing queer music artists. Bring on 2024!”

For more information on this year's Gaydio Pride Awards head to gaydioprideawards.co.uk and keep an eye on social platforms @gaydio for more exciting announcements for next year’s event.