Students from Bradford University have handed back a prize following a “sexist and inappropriate” awards ceremony that featured dancers in corsets.
The Bradford team was nominated in the Digital Entrepreneur Awards, described as the UK’s longest-standing national technology awards.
They won their category, but will return the prize following the “misjudged” tone of the ceremony, which also featured a routine from comedian Iain Stirling, narrator of ITV reality show Love Island. Stirling’s publicist said: “Iain wasn’t comfortable at the event, he cut his stand-up set short and is donating his fee to charity which was announced on-stage”.
Mark Garratt, the university’s external affairs director, said: “There was a compere making sexist jokes and a bunch of burlesque dancers on stage. It was like going back to the days of Bernard Manning.
“We thought afterwards and we couldn’t possibly keep the award. The whole ceremony didn’t sit comfortably with what, as a university, we are trying to promote.”
Emma Bridge, who also attended the event with the Bradford University team, told the Manchester Evening News she felt “very uncomfortable” at the ceremony. “We just picked up our award and left the stage.”
Ian Finch, the managing director of a firm called Mando, spent £1,500 on a table at the awards for its client services team.
“For the most part, middle-aged men were revealed as the winners, while the women involved, giving or receiving, were often dealt with tired, arguably sexist jokes, in the process,” he wrote on his LinkedIn page.
“Why would the organisers decide that an all-female burlesque performance group would be the correct choice for a still largely male demographic of the Digital Entrepreneurship Awards. Why a Love Island presenter? Why the cheap sexist jokes?”
The controversy has also prompted Jonny Tooze, founder of LAB – which won the agency of the year prize in the south of England version of this year’s awards – to hand back his title.
Organisers said they were “so sorry for the upset and offence” caused by the awards, adding: “We missed the mark and we wholeheartedly apologise.”
“Our aim was to celebrate tech and never to undermine the incredible women in the industry or do anything to negate the work everyone in the industry is doing to promote equality and redress the balance ... At this stage, it’s not clear if we will move forward with the event next year.”
• This article was amended on 30 November 2017 to include a quote from Iain Stirling’s publicist, which was provided after publication.
