Last night the VIVA400 awards were presented to the most inspiring women of 2016. The ninth edition of the VIVA400 award ceremony with the theme 'on the move', and the list was expanded this year with the categories Creatives, Handsome Heads, Powerhouses and Do-gooders. the fifth category Business Wonders. In addition, the public could help determine who, in their opinion, should take home the Audience Award. Mea Dols de Jong, Nupur Kohli, Sanne Wevers, Sanne Bolkenstein and Lenneke van Ingen received the coveted awards from the jury members. Sisters Najima and Rachida Kharbouch won the audience award.
Creatives:Mea Dols de Jong
Judgment of the jury:
“The Dutch film landscape is capricious. That's why you don't stand out quickly. Mea has managed to premiere her graduation film 'If mama ain't happy, nobody's happy' during IDFA, to sold-out audiences. We are impressed by all the festival nominations and international awards she has received, such as the Best Documentary at the DOK Munich and the jury and audience award at the Berlin Sehsüchte International Film Festival. The American trade magazine Variety named her one of the top 10 European film makers to watch. Her film is also competing for the Oscars of 2017. Mea deserves the VIVA400 award, because she has a combination of limitless creativity and business acumen. She dares to open herself to the public. That audience embraces her with both arms. And we as well! We can't wait to see what else she has in store for us. A deserved winner in the Creatives category.”
Handsome Koppen:Nupur Kohli
Judgment of the jury:
“Nupur is only 26, but has had a career that leaves you speechless. She graduated from Harvard Business School last year, while she also already had a master's degree in medicine from the UvA. At the age of 22 she was the youngest TEDx Award winner at the TU in Delft. She has now given more than sixty lectures worldwide. Nupur has conducted research into maximizing productivity through better stress management, among other things. The result appeared in 'Chill! How to survive stress and improve personal and professional productivity symptons and solutions to chronic pressure' This year her book will be bundled in an international edition and released in the US and Canada. Nupur currently works as a strategic healthcare consultant at Ernst &Young, where she focuses on the functioning and development of healthcare institutions. We will be hearing a lot more from this centipede! A deserved winner in the Handsome Heads category.”
Powerhouses:Sanne Wevers
Judgment of the jury:
“If Sanne Wevers is in the list, you can't let anyone else win in this category, can you? Her gold medal in the balance beam event at this year's Rio Olympics is a world achievement. The competition in gymnastics is so fierce. Then if you win, you're phenomenally good. It is not only the achievement, but also the road towards it that makes her so special. Sanne has been doing gymnastics since she was six. Since 2001 she has been training with her father Vincent and twin sister Lieke, who also participated in the Olympic Games. The women's team took a historic seventh place. Even before that time, Sanne already proved that she belongs to the global top. She won silver at the World Cup in Glasgow and in 2016 she won a gold medal at the test event of the Olympic Games. Her hard work and strong discipline make Sanne a world-class athlete and a deserved winner in the Powerhouse category.”
Helpers of the world:Sanne Bolkenstein
Judgment of the jury:
“Sanne shows that you can achieve great things with a 'small' initiative. While traveling in Uganda, she discovered that girls there go to school less as they get older. Cause? Their menstruation. Because there are no sanitary pads available, girls stay at home to wait until the monthly perils are over. To solve this problem, Sanne came up with AFRIpads:a washable sanitary pad, made locally by Ugandan women. There are now 150 women working in the production and more than one million AFRIpads menstrual kits have been sold. Sanne's mission:all girls should be able to go to school every day. Sanne deserves the VIVA400 award because she identified a problem and decided to do something about it. Many girls from Uganda now have the opportunity to go to school again. And therein lies the foundation for their future. The jury was unanimous:Sanne deserves the title in the World Improvers category.”
Business miracles:Lenneke van Ingen
Judgment of the jury:
“When Lenneke sees an opportunity, she takes it and goes for it. She undertakes successfully and without limits. She now runs five companies, all at the same time. In 2007, she started her first company, A Million Faces, scouting personalities for movies, TV shows and commercials. She also runs Creative Connectors, an agency for young talent in the media and entertainment industry. She was the first to see the value of vloggers and how to use them in the new media landscape. There has been yoga center Bluebirds for a year, again with a different than usual formula. Everyone can take 'super classes' that burn calories and become zen again. Her luxury bed and breakfast Steel in the heart of Amsterdam is also running smoothly. As a concept artist, Lenneke does not think in boxes, but shows that a business miracle in 2016 identifies a need and meets it in an original way. This makes her the deserved winner in the Business Miracles category.”
VIVA400 audience award 2016:Najima and Rachida Kharbouch
More than 38,000 votes were received for VIVA400 this year. The public opted en masse for Najima and Rachida Kharbouch. Four years ago, the sisters made the infamous switch:they had to start living healthier. Together they lost 50 kilos. Because they received so many questions about their approach, they decided to share their tips under the name Healthysisters. This grew into a successful blog, YouTube channel and busy social media accounts. This makes the two the first Moroccan-Dutch health bloggers and vloggers in the Netherlands.
