This week, as part of celebrating International Women’s Day 2026, Barcadia Media has agreed a further two-year deal with L&C Mortgages to partner on the Women’s Recognition Awards.
L&C will now be headline partners for the awards programme for five years in total, which Barcadia Media head of sales Sam Warburton says is ‘a game-changer’ for the shared aims of both firms.
He said: “Working with L&C on the Women’s Recognition Awards has been hugely rewarding: they are, both as a business and on an individual level, so clearly committed to measurable, meaningful impact on the industry. This means that their partnership with the FRWRA has been much more than a commercial decision – it’s one where we are aligned with a shared goal of gender equality in the mortgage industry, and doing so in a way that acknowledges the impact of broader diversity, equity and inclusion goals too.
“A long-term partnership allows us to work long-term, planning campaigns that have impact year-round and not just during the week of the awards itself, while having a hugely supportive and impactful organisation to work alongside.”
The Women’s Recognition Awards was launched in 2018 in order to highlight the work done by women in our industry as well as businesses which are committed to gender equality. It has since had over 250 winners, over 1,000 finalists, and added new categories to showcase businesses which are leading the way in effective diversity, inclusion and equity improvements more broadly.
The 2025 campaign was focused on a ‘pay it forward’ campaign, supported by L&C, encouraging more new nominations from a wider cross-section of women in the industry. Communications director Amy Loddington, who heads up the programme, said this was ‘proof that the partnership is adding new facets to the programme’.
She added: “The ethos of the Women’s Recognition Awards, first and foremost, is for women at all levels of the industry to feel empowered to share their achievements – but statistics show that women feel much less inclined to do so than men when it comes to their workplace wins. Last year’s ‘pay it forward’ campaign was a great example of how to harness the momentum of the awards and use it to encourage everyone – not just women – to lift others up. Part of that means increasing the reach of the awards, and with a headline partner like L&C, our reach is much wider: which means we can give an even wider range of people the opportunity to have their work recognised and rewarded.
“We’re thrilled to be working with [L&C CEO] Mark Harrington and the team for a further two years, and very much looking forward to bringing the 2026 awards programme to life throughout this year.”
Commenting on the partnership Mark Harrington, CEO at L&C Mortgages said: “When we embarked on our drive to develop a meaningful DEI policy internally, we knew that was only part of the story. To really make a push for genuine progression we wanted to demonstrate our commitment in the hope that we can play a part in the efforts of the wider industry.
“Partnering with Barcadia as the headline sponsor of the Women’s Recognition Awards was an exciting new initiative for us but it’s delivered more than even we had hoped for. So much good work has been achieved by so many but there’s still more to do.
“Extending our tenure as headline sponsor for another two years demonstrates our ongoing commitment to, and partnership with, the Women’s Recognition Awards, which will continue to shine a light on all the positive work and success across the market.”
