Stop Press! We are pleased to announce that the date for the Stonewall Awards 2008 has been confirmed. This year the event will be taking place on Thursday 6th November at the V & A. Tickets will go on sale in August. Keep checking in on the Stonewall website for updates.

The Second Stonewall Awards ceremony, hosted by TV presenter Anthony Crank, took place at London’s V&A tonight before an audience of 400 people. The star-studded event, sponsored for the second year by Barclays, celebrated the positive contributions made by individuals and organisations – both gay and straight – to the lives of gay people in Britain in 2007.

Winners for the ten categories were as follows:

• Broadcast/ Broadcaster of the year: Hollyoaks (Channel 4)
  
  The emotional and gritty storyline charting the turbulent relationship of characters John Paul and Craig has struck a chord with both gay and straight viewers, and has been highly-praised as a realistic portrayal of the difficulties of coming out. The story has been widely debated on fan blogs, and Channel 4 have used it as the basis for online advice and support for young gay people, parents and teachers. 
  
• Entertainer of the Year: Dan Gillespie-Sells
  
  Openly gay Dan is the lead singer of the hugely successful band The Feeling, which was the most played band of 2006 on UK radio. Aside from playing the Concert for Diana at Wembley, The Feeling has also won the coveted 2007 Ivor Novello Award for Songwriters of the Year. Dan, who has a gay mum and uncle, says he has been attending Pride Marches since the age of four.
   
• Journalist of the Year: Philip Hensher (The Independent)
  
  Philip, novelist, critic and journalist, regularly turns his attentions to gay equality in his Independent column, across a broad brush of topics. Forthright and opinionated, Philip has tackled issues such as homophobia on television and radio and has spoken out against the oppression of lesbian and gay people internationally. He wrote about the BBC in March in a column entitled: ‘I don’t want my license fee going to homophobes’.
   
• Politician of the Year: Angela Eagle MP & Alan Johnson MP (Joint Winners)
  
  Angela Eagle MP, Exchequer Secretary to HM’s Treasury, is the only open lesbian politician across both houses of parliament and has been a steadfast supporter of equality. Speaking in a Commons debate in March on the new Sexual Orientation Regulations, she said: ‘We are talking not about freedom of conscience or expression but about fair access to goods and services for
  British citizens - plain and simple.’
  
  Alan Johnson MP demonstrated his commitment to gay equality earlier this year when he was instrumental in securing the new goods and services protections for gay people. When a battle erupted over attempts by religious groups to gain sweeping exemptions, the Hull MP worked hard to amass support for the protections, helping to ensure they were passed with few exemptions. In June, Alan was made Health Secretary.
   
• Publication of the Year: The Guardian
  
  The Guardian is without doubt one of Fleet Street’s strongest advocates for equality, having consistently provided a wealth of positive coverage of lesbian and gay issues in the past year. In July, on the anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality, the paper highlighted the difficulties young gay people still face, calling them ‘the last forgotten minority’ asking: ‘Is anyone in the country brave enough to stand up for them?
   
• Sportsperson of the Year: Nigel Owens
  
  International rugby referee Nigel has spoken openly about his experience of coming out as a gay man in professional rugby, hoping that he can help to break down barriers. In a recent interview with The Times, he revealed his desire to make sport more accepting so that in future others need not suffer the ‘agonies’ that he did, when he feared that coming out could destroy his career. Nigel has made his World Cup debut only two years after officiating his first international match.
   
• Writer of the Year: Val McDermid
  
  The prize-winning crime author published her latest best-selling novel Beneath the Bleeding in August. Described as a ‘terrifying psychological thriller’ it saw the return of criminal profiler Tony Hill, hero of Wire in the Blood, a popular television series adapted from Val’s novel of the same name. The body count in her books have seen her referred to as a ‘bloodthirsty lesbian’ - a slogan she wants to put on a t-shirt.
   
• Community Group of the Year: London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard
   
• Hero of the Year: Antony Grey - veteran equality campaigner. As Secretary of the Homosexual Law Reform Society played a key role in securing the 1967 Sexual Offences Act to partly decriminalise homosexual acts.
   
• Bigot of the Year: Bishop of Hereford - withdrew a job offer to a youth worker because he was gay, after subjecting him to a series of humiliating personal questions.

Photos courtesy of Matthew Brindle.