The winners have been announced for the first-ever BABTAC Inspiring Beauty Awards. The awards took place virtually on 12 March with nearly 100 guests attending including Mille Kendall MBE, Caroline Hirons and Sonia Haria. Celebrating the champions in the beauty industry who have shown positivity and vision throughout the pandemic, the winners were:

Charity Champion
Abigail Oleck Hewett, MD of BeauSkin, Surrey and London, was chosen due to her tireless commitment, giving over 1000 hours, volunteering to help frontline NHS and keyworkers as well as supporting the local community. 

Best Business Pivot during Covid
Katie Millington owner of Love Beauty Gatley, Cheadle, received this award after turning her beauty salon business into a refillable household products success. 

Best Use of Communication and Social Media Throughout the Pandemic
Katie White, owner re:lax LDN, East London, stayed in touch with customers through social media by producing brand new content for Instagram and Facebook including Gua Sha and Acupressure tutorials, videos on skincare products, live workshops and advice sessions.

Industry Expert Supporting People Working in Beauty
Daily Telegraph beauty director Sonia Haria, who was chosen for this award due to her unrelenting commitment to supporting people working in the beauty industry.

Outstanding Achievement Award
Caroline Hirons (pictured) for pioneering the Beauty Backed Campaign - a fundraising initiative to ease the plight of beauty businesses worst affected during covid which she continues to highlight to a wider audience and to date has already raised over £600,000.

BABTAC chair Lesley Blair comments: “We were blown away by the stories submitted by professionals in our industry who have made the best of what has been a really difficult year. The awards were full of emotion and tears as our winners were revealed. We felt it was very important to commend beauty professionals at this time and hope the awards helped raise the spirits of those working in our industry. We’re also very much looking forward to the return of our Annual BABTAC & CIBTAC Awards and Conference once restrictions are lifted.”