22 March 2023 , 21:36
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Alison Hammond has been recognised for her work highlighting racism and inequality at a glamorous ceremony tonight.
The This Morning host, 48, was awarded the Media Champion in the Public Eye gong at the Burberry British Diversity Awards, to recognise her efforts in highlighting racism, inequality and injustice on major broadcasting paltforms.
Alison was handed the award by Paloma Faith in the prestigious event hosted by TV presenter June Sarpong.
The TV star now joins a list of names who have been handed gongs at the ceremony including Little Mix's Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Westlife singer Mark Feehily.
The prestigious ceremony saw companies, charities and individuals recognised for their efforts in promoting equality, diversity and inclusion.
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Alison has been awarded the Media Champion in the Public Eye gong at the Burberry British Diversity Awards (Getty Images)
Paloma Faith presented Alison with the gong (Getty Images)Alison beat shortlisted celebrities Stormzy, Alan Carr, Ellie Simmonds, Jill Scott, John Bishop, Little Simz, Ncuti Gatwa, Romesh Ranganathan and Sadiq Khan to the win.
This Morning star Alison has been incredibly open about her experience as a black woman growing up in the UK over the years.
She opened up about dealing with being called 'horrible names' during her childhood in an interview with The Big Issue last year.
Alison recalled moving to a house in Kingstanding in Birmingham.
She said: "We were in a predominantly white area with quite a bit of racism around.
"There was a lot of National Front around, but we seemed to be OK. I think it’s because all the community absolutely loved my mum because she was a Tupperware manager.
This Morning host Alison has been vocal about equality issues"She would bring the Tupperware to their house and do parties and stuff. I had a pretty happy childhood.
"If someone called me nasty names, it would be like water off a duck’s back because my mum would always say 'You’re amazing' or 'You’re wonderful.' And what she said was much more important to me."
In 2020, she also called out the racist trolls who had targeted three black England players after England crashed out of the Euros following their loss to Italy.
Striker Marcus Rashford and forwards Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka received sickening abuse from some supporters after missing their penalties.
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Alison took to her Twitter account to retweet a powerful message shared by Leigh-Anne from the pop group Little Mix.
"My heart breaks!!," admitted Alison. "The UK will never prosper when its core is rotten!"
And, last year, the TV star even released her own children's book called Black In Time: The Most Awesome Black Britons From Yesterday To Today.
In the introduction to the book, Alison explains: "Following the tragic death of George Floyd in 2000, suddenly conversations about racism were happening more openly and honestly than before with people wanting to see real change. Personally, I found myself deeply affected, and the terrible things that were happening made me think about my own son and my own family.
"Then, my thoughts turned towards education and history and who I’d learned about at school. Who were the positive Black role models I could look up to? I knew some names but the people who came to mind were American, Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks. Did I know much about our own Black history right here in Britain?"