Square Mile picks the City's most promising talent

To see photos from the event visit our gallery

The awards saw the pinnacle of London’s young talent come together as the 30 most respected under 30 year olds, as voted by the city’s Square Mile Magazine readers, joined to celebrate their combined successes and achievements.

Anton Kreil, star of BBC2’s Million Dollar Traders, was key speaker at the event, speaking about his career at Goldman Sachs and his mentoring and training business for young traders.

“It’s vitally important that we continue to set high standards and targets for the future business leaders of London. The awards celebrated that with a showcase of phenomenal young talent across many different industries. I think the future for London is really exciting, and I’m very confident we have some great years ahead of us.” Anton Kreil

The votes from up to 30,000 Square Mile readers nominated outstanding individuals in 8 separate categories representing the best industries in London: Law; Politics; Social Enterprise; Technology and Design; Sport and Fitness; Media, Entertainment and the Arts; Finance and Entrepreneurship.

The Winners

Law: BOBBY KENSAH, INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE LAWYER, NORTON ROSE LLP

Despite being excluded from school, Bobby Kensah has gone on to become the winner of numerous awards recognising his outstanding achievements as a lawyer, including the Law Society’s ‘Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year’, the LawWorks ‘Best Individual Contribution to Law’and the Black Solicitors Network ‘Promising Young Solicitor Award’. Bobby also fi nds the time to work with numerous community projects and contribute to various legal publications.

POLITICS: SAMUEL COATES, HEAD OF DIGITAL, CONSERVATIVE PARTY

Samuel started his political career early when he left university half way through his course in order to run his blog, ConservativeHome.com full time. The site went on to win the Political Publication of the Year award and played a key role in the Conservative leadership contest. At just 22 he beat stiff competition to become David Cameron’s speech writer. Later this year he is being deployed in Helmand for a six-month army tour of duty.

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE: JANE BURSTON, DIRECTOR, CARBON RETIREMENT

Jane’s company, Carbon Retirement, is being hailed as one of the most ethical and innovative carbon offsetting companies. So far, it has won eight awards in the two and a half years since its launch and has even been endorsed by Bill Clinton’s environmental advisor. Despite the fact the company is only a few years old, Jane has already secured a FTSE100 client – a clear indication to the promise of its offsetting process.

TECHNOLOGY & DESIGN: SAM BARNETT, CEO, STRUQ

Sam started his innovative advertising company Struq during the start of the credit crisis with just £2,000 in start-up capital. Three years later and leading brands such as Adidas and EasyJet use his advanced advertising technology. Struq has been named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the top ten innovators across Europe. Sam been shortlisted for Young Entrepreneur of the Year and is one of the Courvoisier Future 500 ‘Rising Stars’.

SPORT & FITNESS: EMILY WICKS, TRAINEE ACTUARY, PUNTER SOUTHALL

Emily balances her fulltime job with both training to be an actuary and competing on behalf of her country in Cross Country. On top of her 9am-5pm working day, and an additional 10 hours of weekly study, Emily runs an average of 80 miles a week and has competed for her club, county and country on numerous occasions. She was chosen to represent Great Britain in the European Cross Country Championships in Italy where the team won gold.

MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT & THE ARTS: VICKI PSARIAS, FILMMAKER, FREELANCE

Multi-award winning freelance director Vicki Psarias has worked on short fi lms, TV documentaries, drama, music videos, commercials and promos. Heralded a ‘future creative hero’ by Channel 4 and winning its 4Talent Award for Best Filmmaker 2007, Vicki was also listed in the Observer’s Courvoisier Future 500. Just this month, BBC Comedy has optioned the rights to her idea for a TV series based on her award-winning short fi lm Rifts.

FINANCE: JEREMY COOK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, WORLD FIRST

As World First’s chief economist, Jeremy helps small- and medium-sized businesses understand how the fast-moving foreign exchange market will affect them, so they’re free to focus on what they do best. His innate ability to communicate complicated economic analysis in everyday language means he is frequently called upon to contribute to the BBC, ITV and various print media.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: JAMES SLEATER, DIRECTOR/OWNER, CAD & THE DANDY

After giving up his career as a sales trader at one of the City’s biggest banks, James turned his attention and talents to the world of tailoring, founding Cad & the Dandy. In a short space of time the company has become one of the largest producers of bespoke items in the UK and has shops in Savile Row, the City, and Canary Wharf. Plans are afoot to expand the business by opening shops in the US and Asia.

Tim Slee, CEO of Square Up Media: “It has been a fantastic night. Once again, Square Mile Magazine has proved that even in hard times, we are where the City comes to party and be recognised.”