Host

Clare Balding CBE

English broadcast journalist and author

Clare Balding is an award-winning broadcaster and writer. She is a lead presenter for the Olympics, Paralympics, Winter Olympics, Wimbledon, the Commonwealth Games and Crufts on the BBC and Channel 4. In 2023, she commentated on the King’s Coronation for BBC TV and hosted the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.

She has championed women’s sport and has also presented factual documentaries on the history of women’s football and sporting Icons of the 20th century. For more than twenty years, she has hiked across the countryside for the BBC Radio 4 series Ramblings.

Clare won a special BAFTA for her work on London 2012 and has twice been voted RTS Sports Presenter of the Year. She was awarded a CBE for services to broadcasting and charity work in Queen Elizabeth II’s final birthday honours list.

Clare is also a best-selling author whose titles include Number one bestseller, My Animals and Other Family, which won the National Book Awards Autobiography of the Year. She has written three novels for children, Sunday Times bestseller, Fall Off, Get Back On, Keep Going, a motivational guide to resilience and self-belief for children and for adults, and adult non-fiction including Heroic Animals: 100 Amazing Creatures Great and Small. Her latest book, Animal All Stars: Incredible Facts, Stats and Stories from the Greatest Record-Breakers in the Animal World was published in March 2025 by Wren & Rook.

"I’m honoured and delighted to return as host for these uplifting and inspiring awards. It’s so important to recognise individuals, organisations and charities going above and beyond to make their communities better, safer and happier. The National Diversity Awards celebrate all that’s good and powerful in an inclusive society and bring much deserved attention to community heroes whose hard work and achievements might otherwise go unnoticed."