Sir Mo Farah is among the famous faces to be shortlisted for the 2022 Ethnicity Awards, shortly after the release of a revelatory documentary about his traumatic childhood.
The Gold medal-winning Olympian is nominated for the Sports Personality gong at this year’s ceremony, due to take place in October in partnership with HSBC UK.
The Ethnicity awards recognise individuals with a track record of working to advance equality and opportunity for Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups in society.
It comes after the release of the BBC documentary The Real Mo Farah which saw Sir Mo reveal he was brought into the UK illegally under the name of another child.
He is nominated for the Sports Personality award as “Sir Mo Farah (Hussein Abdi Kahin)” – which is his birth name, as was revealed in the documentary.
Also nominated at this year’s awards are celebrities including musicians Dave, Emeli Sande and Stormzy, TV personality Alison Hammond and British Vogue editor-in-chief, Edward Enninful.
Enninful is nominated in the Burberry Inspirational Public Figure category, alongside Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Maya Rudolph and actors Dev Patel, Golda Rosheuvel, and Marvel stars Letitia Wright and Simu Liu.
Hammond is nominated alongside Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy and BBC anchor Clive Myrie in the Presenter, Journalist or Host category.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and professor Jonathan Van Tam, who became a household name during the pandemic, are nominated in the public service or campaigner category.
Founder of the Ethnicity Awards, Sarah Garrett MBE, said: “These awards exist to shine a light on the individuals, organisations and charities who are helping to make the world a better place for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities during what continues to be a very challenging time.
“The fact there continues to be racist abuse at sporting events, racial profiling in fashion, regressive stances in politics and stereotyping across the board, to name but a few problems, shows that we still have a long way to go.
“However, every nominee here has used their platform to shine a light on issues facing Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
“I’d therefore like to congratulate all those on the shortlist, you have all done important work to advance equality and promote opportunity.
“I can’t wait to celebrate with you at the Ethnicity Awards in October.”