Contribution to Industry Awards announced at International Women’s Day lunch

Lion was awarded the Corporate Social Responsibility Award when the 2021 Australian Drinks Awards were finally announced at the Drinks Association’s International Women’s Day lunch in Sydney on Tuesday.

Lion received the award for Corporate Social Responsibility as Australia's  first large-scale carbon neutral brewer, Australian Vintage Limited received the Most Improved Gender Equity award and Treasury Wine Estates received the award for most Inclusive & Diverse Workplace. 

Drinks Association CEO Georgia Lennon said, “We received a record number of submissions for the Contribution to Industry Awards. Gender equity, D&I, and environmental and social responsibility are now entirely embedded within the day-to-day operations of Australian drinks businesses. 

“It has been a transformational time and our judging panels certainly had their work cut out for them given the exciting and inspiring initiatives that have been implemented by our member organisations.” 

Each year the Drinks Association awards three Contribution to Industry Awards for corporate social responsibility, most improved gender equity and most diverse and inclusive workplace. The three awards were supposed to have been presented in 2021 but attempts to announce them were thwarted twice due to COVID. The awards were finally able to be announced at the organisation’s annual International Women’s Day lunch in Sydney.  

The Corporate Social Responsibility Award was sponsored by the Endeavour Group and presented by Chief Marketing Officer Joanne Rose who said, “We need to think about the social impact we have. We really need to think about the imprint we leave on the communities we serve.” 

Lion’s Company Secretary and General Counsel, Libby Davidson accepted the award. “This is a real shot in the arm for the team,” she said.

Judges also awarded a highly commended award in the Corporate Social Responsibility category to Campari for its Shaken not Broken campaign, established to support bartenders and venues at the onset of the pandemic. This is not usual practice, but Ms Lennon said there was such a wide variance in submissions for the award, with some traditionally focused on Corporate Social Responsibility and others solely on COVID moment.

The Inclusive & Diverse Workplace Award was sponsored by Coles Liquor, and presented by Mia Lloyd, Head of Trade, Coles Liquor to Treasury Wine Estates while the Most Improved Gender Equity Award was presented to Australian Vintage Limited by Embrace Difference Council member, Kerry Appathurai, Customer Solutions Director at Lion. Brown-Forman and Pernod Ricard were the two other finalists for the award. 

Keynote speaker for the day was Catherine McGregor who shared her extraordinary life story. She commented that she had no roadmap for her life, just as we had no roadmap for how to live through the pandemic. But that our suffering, “what we have been through, has not been entirely without value”.

Ms McGregor's presentation was followed by an industry panel discussion with hotelier Craig Laundy of the Laundy Hotel Group, Pernod Ricard CEO Bryan Fry and Two Birds Brewing founder Jayne Lewis. 

The Drinks Association partnered with charity Dress for Success’ Empower Hour initiative, with attendees pledging an hour of their pay to help a woman overcome the distress of unemployment and financial difficulty.