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MI5 and GCHQ recognised at Women in Defence UK Awards

Published on: 18 Dec 2018

MI5 and GCHQ were worthy winners at the recent Women in Defence UK Awards 2018.

Announced by defence secretary Gavin Williamson during a ceremony at the Imperial War Museum in London, the event saw ‘Victoria’ from MI5 win the promotion of gender balance award, while a joint operational team from GCHQ received the inclusive teamwork award.

Now in its third year, the awards attracted around 300 nominations received from across the defence community.

MI5, GCHQ and SIS put forward a number of nominations with eight individuals and teams being shortlisted. Four finalists were then selected and of those, two won awards.

Andrew Parker, MI5’s director general, said the awards represent a great endorsement of the contribution these organisations collectively make to ensure Britain’s safety.

“Congratulations to Victoria and to our GCHQ colleagues for their success at the Women in Defence Awards 2018,” he commented.

“I'm pleased that they have been recognised for their excellent work keeping the country safe, and for making MI5 and the intelligence agencies great places to work.”

GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming added: “It's rare to be able to publicly celebrate the hard work they and their colleagues do for the intelligence and defence community to help keep the country safe.”

Women in Defence UK was set up in 2011 as ‘a community of people who wish to promote the value of women in defence’.

Its overriding aim is to ‘encourage women to succeed authentically, share experience, build networks and encourage talent at all levels to join the defence sector’.