I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to ignore the word ‘chocolate’ in the subject line of an email. So much so that I’m very much afraid that I’ll ignore a pile of urgent missives from friends and family in order to zoom straight to that tempting word. Of course, this could be abused – relatives could send me long meandering tales about family get-togethers, and write ‘top priority – chocs!’ at the top and I’d probably fall for it. At least twice. But luckily, those folk at Divine have nothing but the highest scruples, being Fairtrade pioneers and all round ethical good eggs. They sent me an email shouting chocolate, and it was all about chocolate – their own special, lovely, unctuous chocolate. Oh, and the Divine Women Awards, too.
I’ll tell you about them. The Divine Women Awards have been dreamt up to mark the centenary of International Women’s Day, and to celebrate the achievements of women across the nation. Divine Chocolate and ethical jewellers Ingle & Rhode will be inviting public nominations in a search to find the most Divine Woman in the UK, between the 8th of March and 8th of April 2011. They have enlisted the help of ethical campaigner Livia Firth, wife of lovely Colin, to help select a winner.
Now, Divine did send me some chocolate to concentrate my mind, I must admit. They refused to send me Colin Firth, though, on the grounds that Livia might be cross. I would have thought she’d appreciate the occasional day off from being the wife of international, Oscar-winning Mr Darcy. Huh! Well, she can’t say I didn’t offer. And out of the sheer goodness of my heart too.
But back to the award. The lucky winner will be someone who has gone beyond the call of duty, has made a real difference, has been an inspiration or force for good in their community. You can nominate your own Divine Woman at their Facebook page.
The prize – for even selfless ethical people like a nice shiny carrot – is a gorgeous bespoke pendant worth over £1000, made with Fairtrade and Fairmined 18 carat gold by Ingle & Rhode.
Do you know someone really special you’d like to nominate? They can be any age and from any walk of life, from a dinner lady at the school to the Dean of St Pauls (if she were a woman, no idea if she is but you get the picture!). Well, you’ve got until 8th April to mull it over.
I’m tempted to nominate a few of my friends – they’re all divine, after all, and I’m sure every one of them would look lovely in the pendant. But I suppose I’d have to whittle it down to one – and who on earth could that be? Hmmm, tricky. Lucky I’ve got a bar or two of Divine choc to munch on while I think it all over.
