ENTERTAINER and comedian Karen Dunbar and world record breaking cyclist Graeme Obree last night walked off with two of the top prizes at the inaugural Icon Awards.
The event, which celebrated Scotland's diverse LGBTI community, held a lavish ceremony at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow.
It was hosted by Edinburgh comedian Bruce Devlin and saw special guest, former Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst, fly in specially for the prize-giving and after-show party at Light nightclub in Royal Exchange Square.
Dunbar was named role model of the year, while Obree, who twice broke the world hour record on his bicycle, won the sporting icon award. Tesco Bank won the employer award.
Angela Crawley, the SNP MP for Lanark and Hamilton East, was named politician of the year. Clothing range Abandon Ship Apparel won business of the year for its genderless and ‘without labels’ range.
In total, 20 trophies were handed out including a special 'straight ally' award for Ru Pauls Drag Race and Celebrity Big Brother star Michelle Visage
Visage said she was 'honoured' to receive recognition for the global work with the LGBTI community, which she said she does "because of love and compassion."
Other big winners were Peachtree Films and BBC’s Transsexual Stories, which won the media portrayal prize. Herald & Times senior features writer Vicky Allan won the title of journalist of the year.
Event organiser Michael Macfarlane said he had been “astounded” by the enthusiasm it had generated.
He added “We want to build an event to rival those in London, bring something special to Scotland and we believe we’ve done that tenfold."
Organisers Paramount Creativ hope to raise in excess of £30,000 for Edinburgh-based Waverley Care.
More than 30,000 votes were cast for the awards. It was supported by the Sunday Herald.
Full list of winners:
The Icon Award:
Winner: Jennie Robertson
Straight Ally Award:
Winner: Michelle Visage
Rising Star:
Winner: Conchita
Waverley Care Special Recognition:
Winner: James Quinn
Volunteer of the Year:
Winner: Tommy Clarke, Red Ribbon Bear
Community Spirit Award:
Winner: Gay Police Association Scotland
Uniformed Icon of the Year:
Winner: W02 Douggie Graham, British Army
Sporting Icon:
Special Commendation: Saltire Thistle
Winner: Graeme O’bree
Role Model of the Year:
Winner: Karen Dunbar
Businessperson of the Year:
Winner: Steven Mcleod, Aurora Hotel collection
Wedding Venue of the Year:
Winner: The Parsonage at Dunmore Park
Venue of the year:
Runners up: Planet Bar, Edinburgh and Marriott Hotel, Glasgow
Winner: The Waterloo Bar, Glasgow
Business of the Year:
Runners up: Wire Media and Amabile Design
Winner: Abandon Ship Apparel
Marketing Campaign of the Year:
Special commendation: LGBT Youth Scotland, Shhh!
Winner: Lush, Gay is ok
Journalist of the Year:
Winner: Vicky Allan, Herald & Times
Politician of the Year:
Winner: Angela Crawley, SNP
Employer of the Year:
Runners Up: Barclays Bank, Royal Golden Jubilee Hospital
Winner: Tesco
Media Portrayal Award:
Winner: Transsexual Stories, BBC, Peachtree Films
Beauty Industry Award:
Runner Up: Terry Dunn Hair, Sara Hill Makeup
Winner: Craig Andrew Hairdressing
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel