Samir Bhamra is honoured to receive the Arts and Culture Award at the British Indian Awards in association with BDO.  The ceremony was held on 15 July 2016 at Athena in Leicester. The evening was a celebration of the success and achievements of Britain’s Indian individuals, communities and business people.

“The calibre and scale of talent present at the British Indian Awards is a testament to the commitment and hard work the British Indian community holds, along with the opportunities available in the United Kingdom” commented Yasmin Mahmood of event organiser’s, Oceanic Consulting.

“It was truly an inspirational evening and we are humbled and honoured to be able to recognise and reward the achievements of the many inspirational individuals and business that participated. Well done to all of the finalists and winners.”

“This award is totally unexpected especially given the calibre of finalists in the category. When I was a young student, I chose a course that guaranteed financial stability over personal satisfaction. Within a few years, I realised that the Arts pump blood into my veins. I have learnt from mistakes and been taught by wonderful teachers. Phizzical was born to fill a gap – to support the hidden talent in each and everyone of us. The talent we have nurtured have gone on to achieve success on British, Indian and American TV, stage and film. We are blessed to receive an acknowledgment for the work we have done to enable British Asian talent to thrive and will continue to do so zealously.”
Samir Bhamra, Artistic Director, Phizzical Productions

“We’re delighted to have been able to work with Samir and his company Phizzical for almost 4 years in projects such as the recent hit show Bring on the Bollywood. The Belgrade is committed to supporting talented artists and their development, and working together to build a bigger audience for new and culturally diverse work. This award is well deserved and reflects very positively on the work we and Samir are doing. Congratulations Samir.”
Hamish Glen, Artistic Director, Belgrade Theatre

“The Attenborough Arts Centre is delighted to hear about Samir Bhamra’s  and Phizzical’s well deserved British Indian arts and cultural awareness award. We are very proud of our long term partnership with Samir and his team and our role in supporting his company to take creative risks, and reach new audiences. Both our organisations are passionate about opening up,opportunities for emerging talent and removing barriers to access particularly for disabled people to enter into the arts profession.  The  play by Shahid Iqbal Khan was a brilliant example of how our partnership was able to promote a new writer and we were only too pleased that our patron , Michael Attenborough was able to take such an active role in supporting the development of the play.”
Michaela Butter MBE, Director, Attenborough Arts Centre

Previous Arts and Culture Awareness award winners include Anish Kapoor, Nitin Ganatra and Piali Ray.

The 2016 finalists included:

• Saurav Dutt (Surav Dutt, London)
• Vinay Patel (Writer, London)
• Anita Bhalla (Performances Birmingham Ltd, Birmingham)
• Shrabani Basu (Writer, London)
• Chithra Ramakrishnan (Shruthi UK, Birmingham)
• Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti (Writer, London)

There were twenty four awards presented on the night, the winners are:

• Best in Creative Industries went to Gary Singh (Entouraaj, London).
• Services to Civil and Third Sector went to Jagtar Singh (Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership, Coventry).
• Best to Science and Engineering went to Bal Bansal (Coca-Cola European Partners, London).
• Rising Star of the Year went to Jatin Patek (TSB, London).
• Best in Medical went to Dr Sunil Chopra (London Dermatology Centre, London).
• Best in Media went to Suzi Mann (BBC Asian Network, London).
• Services to Law went to Ritu Sethi (The Sethi Partnership Solicitors, London).
• Services to Education went to Professor Tapas Mallick (University of Exeter, Cornwall).
• Services to Accounting went to Bindi Palmer (Rouse Partners LLP, London).
• Indian Community Spirit went to Dr Shamender Talwar (The Unity of Faith Foundation,London).
• Politician of the Year went to Priti Patel MP (House of Commons, London).
• Charity/Community Initiative of the Year went to The Sharan Project (London).
• Best at Sport went to Raj Hundal (Pool Champion, Hounslow).
• Arts & Culture Awareness went to Samir Bhamra (Phizzical, Leicester).
• Services to Entertainment went to Indiraa (Barnett).
• SME Business of the Year went to Mint Securities Limited (Leicester). 
• Family Business of the Year went to Wholesale LED Lights (Leicester).
• Leaders in Finance went to Sudhir Dole (ICICI Bank UK PLC, London)
• Indian Business in the UK went to The Jewellery Channel (London).
• Young Achiever of the Year went to Risha Jindal (Digimeal Co, Watford)
• Businesswoman of the Year went to Harvinder Atwal (BKSB, Mansfield).
• Businessman of the Year went to Dr Nik Kotecha (Morningside Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Loughborough).
• Business of the Year went to PG Paper Company Ltd (Greenock).
• Entrepreneur of the Year went to Lisa Sohanpal (Nom Noms World Foods, London)

For further information on The British Indian Awards please visit http://thediversityawards.info/britishindian/