Do YOU know Britain’s most inspiring woman? Tell us her story and she could be honoured like all these courageous campaigners whose drive has transformed so many lives

Who is the most inspiring woman you know? She might be a teacher, a doctor, a community leader, charity worker or campaigner. She might be your friend, your colleague, your mum.

And although day in, day out, she improves the lives of others through her compassion, strength and tireless determination, she may receive little recognition for the extraordinary work she does.

Well, now is the time to change that. Because if you know an incredible woman who deserves to be celebrated for making a real difference, we want to hear about her for the Daily Mail’s Inspirational Women Awards 2024.

Launching today in partnership with Marks & Spencer, we want you to nominate special women from every walk of life. 

You have until midnight on Wednesday, February 14 to do so, and five winners will be honoured at the Inspirational Women Awards gala in April in support of The WOW Foundation, a charity dedicated to fighting for gender equality.

Through festivals, events, schools programmes and more, WOW (Women of the World) seeks to nurture opportunities for women and girls, working towards a world where true gender equality is achieved.

In the words of WOW’s president, the Queen, ‘stories have power’. Speaking on International Women’s Day 2022, the then Duchess of Cornwall, said: ‘Women are empowered [by WOW] to talk about their personal experiences — sometimes harrowing, sometimes celebratory — spurring one another on towards our goal of a truly equal world, and reminding us that we all suffer, irrespective of our gender, when women are not fairly represented.’

Now, we look forward to hearing your stories of the extraordinary, ordinary females you’re nominating for the Inspirational Women Awards.

Jude Kelly CBE, WOW’s CEO and founder, says: ‘These awards, celebrating unsung women doing extraordinary things, reflect WOW’s passion to tell stories that bring determination and optimism to the struggle for change. We look forward to hearing about women who embody that ethos and celebrating them.’

Stuart Machin, CEO of Marks & Spencer, says: ‘M&S is a business powered by inspiring women; 43,000 women — 70 per cent of our workforce — do a brilliant job every day of serving millions of customers across our stores, warehouses and support centres. So, making sure they all have genuine equality of opportunity is really important to M&S, and to me.

‘It’s a privilege to be on the judging panel of the Inspirational Women Awards and to celebrate the achievements of some incredibly inspiring women.’

You can find the details you need to enter your nomination on the right of this page, as well as at dailymail.co.uk/inspirational women2024

Now, to inspire you, TESSA CUNNINGHAM speaks to some of those honoured in the past about the remarkable work they do…

MOTHER WHO SAVES KIDS FROM GANGS

LORRAINE JONES: WINNER 2018

His voice trembling, the little boy looked up at Lorraine Jones. ‘He threatened to stab me,’ he murmured. ‘He said he was part of a gang and was going to kill me.’

Just seven years old, the boy had been threatened at school with a pair of scissors. The culprit? Another seven-year-old.

‘It’s utterly heartbreaking,’ says Lorraine, 51, from Brixton, South London. ‘I’ve been working day and night for ten years to stop the cycle of violence which is blighting our young people’s lives.

‘But the awful truth is that the need is greater than ever.’

Through her foundation, Dwaynamics, Lorraine was able to offer the boy specialist counselling. It’s one of a host of initiatives the indefatigable mother of seven has introduced since being crowned our 2018 winner. But she is in no doubt there is much more to do.

‘Just before Christmas a young man was stabbed to death in broad daylight in our local park. Schoolchildren walked past his body. It was horrific. Kids were flooding into our centre, saying what they had seen.’

It’s no wonder Lorraine was among the first people the family of Harry Pitman reached out to for support after the 16-year-old was murdered on New Year’s Eve.

‘I know what they are going through,’ she says simply.

Lorraine, a pastor, launched Dwaynamics in honour of her son Dwayne after the 20-year-old was killed trying to stop a knife fight in February 2014. He’d been so worried about knife crime he had started a boxing club in Brixton’s Angell Town estate to keep teenagers out of trouble.

Despite being poleaxed by grief, Lorraine took charge of the club. With 400 members aged as young as five, Dwaynamics has helped hundreds of young people with boxing and fitness classes as well as mentoring workshops. Police join in, too — cementing good relations, which had been lacking.

There are many success stories — like the young lad referred to the club by police who is now a successful amateur boxer, or the girl who’s joined the police cadets. And last year, Lorraine, who sits on a host of advisory panels with politicians, expanded her work further. She opened a community centre offering a range of support including lunch clubs, mothers’ groups and homework clubs.

‘One mother told me if it wasn’t for Dwaynamics her son would be dead,’ she says. ‘Instead of roaming the streets, prey to gangs, he is in a safe space. He found somewhere he loves where he can shine.’

This year, Lorraine is advising on a similar initiative in New York, working with mayor Eric Adams.

‘Being named Inspirational Woman of the Year was a massive boost. It gave me a voice,’ she says. ‘I’m so grateful because my work is more vital than ever.’

QUADRUPLE AMPUTEE INSPIRING OTHERS

CORINNE HUTTON: FINALIST 2017

Corinne Hutton had been a super-fit, successful businesswoman, running both marathons and a small graphics company when her life was overturned. After developing pneumonia, she contracted septicaemia. Doctors saved her life. But they were unable to save her hands and feet.

‘Overnight I was a quadruple amputee, living a life which had been unimaginable a few weeks earlier,’ says Corinne, 53, from Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire. ‘I lost my company. My marriage collapsed under the strain. All I had was my little boy, Rory, and the determination that I wasn’t going to give in.’

That indomitable spirit hasn’t just transformed Corinne’s life. It has enriched the lives of countless others through her charity, Finding Your Feet, which has expanded exponentially since Corinne was named a finalist in 2017.

‘As a quadruple amputee, I felt utterly alone and isolated, with no one to turn to,’ says Corinne. ‘I realised there was a real need for a support group.’

Just four months after her operation, in January 2014, Corinne started Finding Your Feet to encourage fellow amputees to enjoy as full and challenging a life as possible.

Now, ten years later, the charity has more than 1,000 members involved in weekly activities from coffee mornings and swimming to cycling and skiing. In June, Corinne is leading a team of 32 along Peru’s notoriously challenging Inca Trail.

One of the most rewarding aspects is seeing the transformative effect of the charity on new amputees. ‘A 21-year-old girl got in touch just before Christmas,’ says Corinne.

‘She has cancer and had just learnt she needed to have her leg amputated. She was in terrible distress. I was able to link her immediately with a young amputee in our group who’s now several years down the road. He was able to answer all her questions and make it less frightening. They have cemented a real bond.’

Corinne — who was awarded an MBE in the King’s first birthday honours list — constantly embraces new challenges. She has climbed Ben Nevis (the first female quad amputee to do so) and finished the world’s largest triathlon.

In January 2019, after a five-year wait, Corinne became the sixth patient in Britain to receive a double hand transplant. ‘From the moment I woke up after the 12-hour operation and looked at my beautiful new hands, I felt they were mine,’ she says. ‘But I never forget how lucky I am and how much I owe the donor.

‘I can’t express the joy of being able to ruffle my son’s hair again — although, at 15, I think he sometimes wishes I’d stop.’

CARING PROTECTOR OF WHISTLEBLOWERS

EILEEN CHUBB: FINALIST 2018

It takes real guts to be a whistleblower. Eileen Chubb should know; over the years she has supported more than 3,000 fellow whistleblowers, all determined to improve conditions in our care homes, through her charity Compassion In Care.

Together with her volunteer army, Eileen fields up to 6,000 calls a year from care workers and relatives who feel they have nowhere else to turn.

‘I know so many brave people who are left suicidal after speaking out,’ Eileen, 63, says.

‘They’ve lost everything — job, house and marriage. I am convinced that protecting whistleblowers is the best way to protect vulnerable people.’

Eileen’s work has never been more vital than in the past few years. ‘During the pandemic we were receiving calls night and day from staff devastated by what they were witnessing,’ she shudders. ‘Residents were dying in agony because they were denied medical intervention.

‘Other residents — often with dementia — were being given highly dangerous psychotic drugs to ensure they didn’t leave their rooms. It was inhumane. Staff were being told to grab discarded PPE out of the bins, spray it with Dettol and re-use it.

‘Knowing we were listening, kept them sane. But the tragedy is that no one else listened.

‘We submitted regular reports to Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock but nothing was done. Now all our evidence — which has been recognized by Amnesty International as vital work in the field of human rights — is being submitted to the Covid Inquiry.’

Eileen has been working unpaid, seven days a week from her home in Kent since she established Compassion in Care 20 years ago, after witnessing the abuse of elderly residents at the care home where she worked. With six other staff, Eileen complained to Kent Social Services. Their complaints were upheld, but Eileen and her colleagues lost their jobs. The experience left her passionate about defending whistleblowers and vulnerable people.

Her latest project is to expose abuse of LGBT residents, sparked by a call to her hotline from Ted Brown. A founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, Ted discovered his partner of 50 years, Noel, had been punched by staff at his care home.

‘The knuckle marks stood out on his chest,’ says Eileen. ‘We have since discovered more than 400 incidents of attacks on the LGBT community within care homes. I pray for the day when my charity is no longer needed. But, until then, how can I possibly give up?’

MUM PUTTING SHOES ON CHILDREN’S FEET

CJ BOWRY: FINALIST 2017

The little note, written in a child’s careful script, reads: ‘Hope our shoes find new happy feet, love from Vesper and Herbie.’ It was one of thousands of heartfelt messages that accompany outgrown, but not outworn, shoes on their journey to find new owners. And it’s all thanks to CJ Bowry.

It was a simple decision to try to find the child who would benefit from her three-year-old son Sal’s outgrown shoes that led CJ to set up her charity in November 2013. To date, Sal’s Shoes has donated more than five million pairs in over 60 countries. In the past year, 180,000 pairs have been distributed in the UK.

‘When Sal outgrew his first shoes, they were good as new, so I decided to donate them to charity. However, while many charities take shoes, none could tell me exactly where they would end up,’ says CJ, who was awarded an OBE in this year’s New Year’s Honours list for services to young people, education and the environment.

Determined to guarantee a good home for Sal’s shoes, CJ dispatched them to a friend of a friend who was working on a children’s oncology ward at a hospital in Zambia.

‘A few weeks later she sent me a photo of a young boy wearing Sal’s first pair of shoes.’

Enchanted, CJ posted the photo on Facebook, writing: ‘Sal’s shoes have become another’s.’

The impact was instant. Within hours, friends were asking if they could do the same. Within a week, 150 strangers had contacted her.

‘I was overwhelmed and a little frightened,’ admits CJ, 44, who lives in Surrey with her husband Carlo, 55, and their children: Sal, now 13, and Clemie, ten. ‘But I’d started something I couldn’t turn my back on. It just kept expanding, particularly since the Inspirational Women Awards.

‘We distribute via baby banks, homeless shelters, refugee centres and women’s refuges. We also operate Sal’s Shoes shops around Britain enabling families to choose shoes without having to pay.

‘Children can enjoy a real sense of pride in choosing their footwear. Parents no longer have to send their children to school in ill-fitting and outgrown footwear.’

GIVING GRENFELL SURVIVORS A BREAK

ESME PAGE: WINNER 2017

When Esme Page posted a Facebook message in June 2017, asking if any of her neighbours shared her desire to help survivors of the Grenfell Tower disaster, she couldn’t have guessed where it would lead.

‘I’m just an ordinary mum — I didn’t know how I could help,’ she says. ‘Then it came to me like a divine download; we could put a Cornish holiday on the horizon of every resident and firefighter family.’

The result has been transformative — both for Grenfell residents and for Esme’s Cornish neighbours. That first year, some 200 people were treated to a free week’s holiday in Cornwall.

Esme’s charity, Cornwall Hugs, has now provided holidays for 516 people traumatised by the tragedy in which 72 people died. Individuals and businesses have piled in to help with everything from free water sports to cream teas. Friendships have been forged. Mousehole — one of Cornwall’s prettiest fishing villages — even has a special Grenfell Street sign.

‘The sign, complete with the iconic Grenfell green heart logo, is a permanent reminder of the tragedy and of our solidarity and bond with Grenfell,’ says Esme, 54, proudly. ‘Since 2017, over 1,000 people have got involved and we’ve been gifted some £250,000 worth of services.

‘But it’s the little things that matter. These are people who felt they weren’t listened to. The ordinary people of Cornwall have taken them to their hearts. They’ve shown they care, and that’s invaluable.’

When holidays were impossible during the pandemic, the charity used its network to provide accommodation for care workers.

‘Some had been sleeping in tents or their cars in order not to put their families at risk,’ shudders Esme, who’s mum to Pax, 16 and Kes, 13. ‘We were able to offer them a roof over their heads.’

Nominate your inspirational woman

To make a nomination, fill in this form online, or use the form below and send it to us via email or by post, and tell us in no more than 400 words — on a separate sheet — why your candidate should win.

Visit dailymail.co.uk/inspirationalwomen2024 to enter your nomination online; email your entry to: inspirationalwomen@dailymail.co.uk or send your nomination to: Inspirational Women Awards c/o Femail, Daily Mail, 9 Derry St, London W8 5HY

Closing date for entries is 23.59 on Wednesday, February 14, 2024. The Editor’s decision is final.

PRIZES: Each winner will receive a crystal trophy and a £500 M&S gift voucher. There are no cash alternatives to the prizes. Full Terms apply, please read before entering at dailymail.co.uk/inspirationalwomen2024

YOUR NAME ……………………………………………………………………………..

YOUR TEL NO ……………………………………………………………………….

YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS ………………………………………………………………

YOUR NOMINATION …………………………………………………………………..

THEIR TEL NUMBER …………………………………………………………………..

THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS ……………………………………………………………..