The Icon of the Year award is back for the second year running and it’s a good one!
We have crowned two worthy winners of the title to end the year on a high.
Drum roll please...
The winners of the 2021 Icon of the Year award are: Marcus Rashford MBE and Chloe Zhao
As you can agree, the pair have put their own stamp on this roller coaster of a year and have shaped impressions that will last a lifetime.
Marcus Rashford MBE
When he’s not busy leading England into the UEFA Euro 2020 finals (great effort lads!) he’s campaigning against child hunger, homelessness, and racism.
The 24-year-old has been an advocate for low-income families and children who are in food poverty.
The Manchester United star teamed up with the charity ‘FareShare’ to deliver meals for children in Greater Manchester, during the school holidays, who would not be receiving their free meals at this time.
Marcus’ ambitious nature, saw a staggering £20 million raised to provide food for children nationwide for those receiving free school meals.
With this amazing outcome, Rashford wrote to the government calling on them to end UK child poverty. Just 24 hours later, the government announced a change regarding the free school meals policy and committed to extending the free meals into the summer holidays.
His commitment and passion to this campaign, has not only given many families a lifeline, but pushed the government to provide a further £400 million to fund and support the cost of food and household bills for poor families.
If anyone deserves this award, then it’s certainly this guy! He has made waves for the future and is simply one in a million!
Chloe Zhao
Chloe Zhao shares the crown for this years Icon of the Year award and with good reason.
The incredible filmmaker made Oscar history back in April winning the ‘Best Director’ award for her on-the-road drama film ‘Nomadland.’
She is the first woman from an ethnic minority background and only the second woman ever to have won this prevalent award. The first woman to win this was Kathryn Bigelow for ‘Hurt Locker.’
‘Nomadland’ triumphed at the awards ceremony winning best picture, best actress and of course, best director. The film was highly recognised amongst all award ceremonies and rightly so!
Zhao’s latest work - Marvel’s ‘Eternals’ - is based on the comic book and follows the events of ‘Avengers:Endgame’ which was released in 2019. She is both the director and one of the writers for this superhero greatness.
Highlighting her strength and impeccable talent ‘Eternals’ was number 1 at the box office in it’s opening weekend.
Chloe Zhao means business – she is changing the film industry and showering us with her creativity – we are so ready to see what she brings in 2022!
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