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Islamic Human Rights Commission have announced the nominees for the Islamophobia Awards 2015. Centred around a gala dinner, the event aims to subvert Islamophobia through comedy and revue while simultaneously addressing a serious and significant issue in a creative manner.

This year the awards have been split into four separate categories: UK, International, News Media and Film/Book/TV Series. Nominees were submitted by the general public who had the chance to write in whomever they felt had displayed prominent cases of Islamophobia. The ‘UK’ category sees the likes of David Cameron, Michael Gove and Theresa May as well as the UK government as a whole. Likely contributing factors for each nomination include Gove’s handling of Operation Trojan Horse and May’s enhanced counter-terrorism measures.

The ‘International’ category is not limited in terms of scope; seeing nominees from the USA, France, Germany and Australia. From high-ranking figures such as Angela Merkel to Mayor Marcel Mortreau in France who decided that Muslim pupils at a local school would not be given an alternative meal to pork. ‘News Media’ features both individuals and institutions: FOX News and The Sun received nominations as did columnist Katie Hopkins who famously referred to Palestinians as ‘filthy rodents burrowing beneath Israel.’ A host of films received nominations with popular television series Homeland and Citizen Khan also obtaining honours.

Winners will be highlighted during the spoof awards ceremony which will be taking place on Saturday, 7 March 2015 at the Holiday Inn in Wembley. The evening will also include a performance from acclaimed comedian Aamer Rahman who was named as one of The Guardian’s top 10 comedy shows of 2014. He has performed at the Sydney Opera House and was one of the recipients of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Best Newcomer Award.

2015 ISLAMOPHOBIA AWARDS NOMINATIONS:

UK:

David Cameron 

Richard Dawkins

Michael Gove

Theresa May

Maajid Nawaz

Eric Pickles

Tommy Robinson

William Shawcross

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Birkbeck University

Metropolitan Police

UK Government

UKIP

INTERNATIONAL:

Tonny Abbott

Pat Dollard

Steven Emerson

Bobby Jindal

Marine Le Pen

Bill Maher

Angela Merkel

Marcel Mortreau

Rupert Murdoch

Benjamin Netanyahu

Barack Obama

Walid Shoebat

Pegida

Charlie Hebdo

NEWS MEDIA:

Andrew Bolt

Nick Ferrari

Andrew Gilligan

Sam Harris

Katie Hopkins

Douglas Murray

Melanie Phillips

Paul Sheehan

John Ware

Eric Zemmour

FOX News

The Sun

FILM/BOOK/TV SERIES:

300: Rise of Empire – Film

American Sniper – Film

Amira & Sam – Film

Dracula Untold – Film

Exodus: Gods and Kings – Film

Honor Diaries – Film

Oppressed Majority – Film

RoboCop (2014) – Film

Citizen Khan – TV series

Homeland – TV series

Arab Winter Comes to America: The Truth About the War We’re In by Robert Spencer – Book

Soumission by Michel Houellebecq – Book

Notes to editors:

About the Islamophobia Awards:

Date: Saturday, 7 March 2015

Time: 6.30pm – 11pm

Venue: Holiday Inn, Empire Way, Wembley, HA9 8DS

General public can purchase tickets here: shop.ihrc.org/tickets 

General public can vote for who wins here: https://ihrc.org.uk/events/11229-islamophobia-awards-2015-vote-now

For all media enquiries please email nadia@ihrc.org or call 020 8904 4222