Jewish News to honour heroes on front line of hate crime fight

A national initiative honouring individuals tackling hate crime is launched today, with the support of Jewish News. 

The #No2H8 awards will recognise individuals and organisations battling anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia and other forms of hate-fuelled incidents and will culminate in a glittering awards ceremony in central London in October.

The awards –  conceived by Faith Matters – are held with the support of partners including the Community Security Trust (CST), Tell MAMA, GALOP, Stop Hate UK and Stonewall.  The initiative, now in its second year, is chaired by former CST chief executive Richard Benson.

“It is time to celebrate the enormous capacity for good that sits within our country and which ensures our collective continuing resilience against hatred, racism and intolerance,” said Faith Matters founder Fiyaz Mughal.

“We have been through some very difficult times in our country, from Islamist extremism which has taken lives and led to hate crimes against other law abiding Muslims, to anti-Semitism. We want to honour those who stand up and do the right thing to stop hatred and intolerance.”

From the nominations received, it will be down to an expert judging panel to decide the recipients of awards in 10 categories including  young, community enforcement and parliamentarian upstander as well as community volunteer. A special Jo Cox Award will also be presented on the night in honour of the late MP’s vision and values.

The judges will include Rabbi Baroness Neuberger, the former chief executive of the King’s Fund; Lord Carlile, independent reviewer of terror legislation and PREVENT; Canon Mark Oakley, Canon Chancellor at St Paul’s Cathedral; and chief executive of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners Nazir Afzal.

Jewish News editor Richard Ferrer – who will also join the panel along with Benson and Mughal – said: “It’s a huge honour to be working with such a group of highly-respected organisations battling hatred and intolerance across our country.”