Olympic gold medal winner Kellie Harrington was named the overall winner of the 21st Irish Tatler Women of the Year awards at a ceremony in the Shelbourne Hotel. Harrington’s victory over Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira in the lightweight final in Tokyo earlier this year saw her join Katie Taylor as one of only two Irish female boxers to win an Olympic medal.
Harrington, who returned to a hero’s welcome in her hometown of Dublin, has said her proudest achievement was not her gold medal victory, but lifting the spirits of the nation. The special recognition Tatler award went to Sarah Grace, who went public after being attacked in her apartment in July 2019. Grace, a qualified solicitor, spoke out about her experience.
Openness
The reason she decided to go public was because she wanted to highlight how victims can better prepare for trials and to encourage more openness around sexual violence. FeliSpeaks, aka Nigerian Irish poet Felicia Olusanya, won the catalyst award and performed her poem, ‘For Our Mothers’. The poem is set to be on the Leaving Cert English curriculum for 2023.
The Irish Tatler Women of the Year Awards were first launched by publisher Norah Casey in 2002, with the aim of championing female excellence and to spark debate about Irish women’s place in society, the workplace and overseas. Irish Tatler is owned by the Business Post Group and is distributed as part of the Business Post on the second Sunday of each month.
Kellie Harrington pictured above at a photocall announcing her Spar sponsorship deal
