THE Director of Bradford Literature Festival, Syima Aslam, has been nominated for a prestigious arts award.

For the second year in a row, she has been nominated in the Publishing and Writing category of the h 100 Awards, an annual celebration of the talent working across the UK's creative industries and organised by The Hospital Club, London.

A panel of industry judges nominate 10 individuals for each of the awards' 10 categories: Advertising, Marketing & PR - Art, Design & Craft - Broadcast - Fashion - Film - Games - Music - Publishing & Writing - Rising Stars and Theatre & Performance. The awards are then opened to a public vote and the winner of each award is announced at the h 100 Awards ceremony in London on September 10.

It is the second consecutive year that the director and founder of the festival has been nominated for the award, and she sits alongside an impressive selection of nominees which include award winning author and journalist, Reni Eddo Lodge, Costa First Novel Award nominee, Kit De Wall, and comedian Deborah Frances-White, creator of the cult podcast The Guilty Feminist.

The festival, whose title partner is Bradford based Provident Financial Group, has also been nominated for Tourism Event of the Year in Welcome to Yorkshire’s White Rose Awards which will take place in November.

Syima Aslam said: “I’m humbled to have been nominated for this award alongside such an incredible list of other women, and men, who have done so much within the publishing and writing industry. When I started the festival in 2014 it was very much a passion project, and whilst I knew that the idea had the potential to become something incredible, I simply could not have achieved all that I have without the support of our wonderful partners, Provident Financial Group, Arts Council England, the university of Bradford, Bradford Council and so many others.

"My name might be on the nomination, but I see this very much as an award for Bradford, and a celebration of the incredible pool of talent, creativity and inspiration that is overflowing from Bradford and the North.”

For more information, and to cast a vote, visit thehospitalclub.com/h100awards