RADAR's People of the Year Awards, now in its 43rd year, celebrates excellence and achievement by both disabled people and those organisations with a commitment to furthering the equality agenda for disabled people.

Nominations for the Awards is open until the beginning of October and includes the 'Doing IT Differently Award'. If you have a supplier, employee, internal project or customer that has gone the extra mile and created an IT innovation that really embraces inclusion and opens up the possibilities for disabled people to fully participate in society, then nominate them for the award.

This year the Awards will again be held at the magical Battersea Evolution on Monday 30th November.

The evening will be hosted by Frank Gardner OBE, the BBC broadcaster, whose own return to frontline broadcasting from a wheelchair after being shot six times by Al-Qaeda gunmen and undergoing 14 operations, is a remarkable story of achievement in itself.

This year's theme for the Awards evening is: "Future Proofing Disability Equality". RADAR wants to drive home the message that disability equality matters, regardless of economics—in fact, during tough times, equality matters more. With an Equalities Bill going through Parliament, a pressing need to avoid new inequalities in a recession and an imperative to spend resources where they are most needed, this is the opportunity to help create more equal and effective businesses and a more equal society for the future.

The 2009 People of the Year event will, for the first time, include both an educational and challenging day and a celebratory evening. During the day we will explore a set of six rights-based strands, all falling under the theme of future proofing disability equality.

The day will enable measurable challenges to be set for the attending leaders of blue chip organisations operating throughout British society—targets that RADAR will consistently monitor, celebrating high achievers.

In the evening we will be presenting 10 awards celebrating achievement in the strands examined in the day event as well as in traditional categories such as The Person of the Year.

Last year over 500 business and public sector leaders, parliamentarians and key players in the disability and wider equalities community attended the Awards and we expect this year to be no different.

So if you are looking for a fantastic evening out, the opportunity to network with key opinion leaders, a chance to celebrate pioneers of disability equality whilst impressing colleagues and clients with sparkling cocktails and sumptuous cuisine then be sure to put the 30th November in your diary now.