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Woman's Hour Power List 2023: Meet the Judges

The judges for the Woman's Hour Power List 2023 will help to determine our shortlist, drawing upon their combined expertise across elite sport, policy and media.

Jessica Creighton - Chair

Jessica Creighton is an award-winning broadcaster, journalist and a familiar voice to Woman’s Hour listeners as a regular presenter of the programme.

As a former footballer, she has witnessed first-hand the inequalities that exist for many sportswomen and women working in sport, and has worked tirelessly to make structural change, improve representation and increase publicity.

Jessica has worked alongside equality groups such as Women in Football and The Women's Sport Trust and is an Independent Non-Executive Director for a Football Association Board which works to improve the resources, facilities and exposure of the women's game.

Jessica is proud to be part of the Woman's Hour Power List to continue to celebrate and uplift all of the trailblazing women working in sport.

Sam Quek

Sam Quek was part of the squad who won Britain’s first ever hockey gold medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016. She was also a member of the England hockey team which won gold at the European Championships in 2015.

Post-retirement, she has moved into broadcasting, joining ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport’s presenter line up for the Tokyo Olympics, and becoming the first female captain on Question of Sport – the world’s longest running sports quiz show. She also presents Morning Live on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ 1.

She has written columns for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport and various newspapers, and has been outspoken on the media’s portrayal, and sexualisation, of female athletes.

She was awarded an MBE in 2017 for services to hockey.

Tanni Grey-Thompson

Baroness Grey-Thompson is one of Britain’s most celebrated British Paralympians of all time, winning 16 medals (11 of them gold) across five Games. She has broken over 30 world records and won the London Marathon women’s wheelchair race a record-breaking six times.

In 2005, she was made a Dame for her services to sport, and in 2010, she became a cross-bench peer in the House of Lords, speaking on a range of issues including disability rights and women in sport.

As Chair of Sport Wales and a board member for UK Sport – Baroness Grey-Thompson is actively involved in developing and promoting physical activity at a local level, and ensuring British success at an elite level. In 2019 she received the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ebony Rainford-Brent

Ebony is a World Cup winning cricketer and broadcaster. Passionate about celebrating and raising the profile of women’s sport, she hosts ‘The Women’s Sport’s Show’ - a weekly programme on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio London. Ebony was one of the first female pundits on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳’s Test Match Special, and she is part of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Cricket and Sky Sports Cricket broadcasting team.

Ebony made history as the first black woman to play for England, and in 2020, with funding from Sport England, she launched the ACE Programme – a charity aimed at encouraging young people from African and Caribbean heritage into the game.

Ebony is the first Director of Women’s Cricket at Surrey County Cricket Club and in 2021, she was awarded an MBE for services to cricket and charity.

Listen to the Woman's Hour Power List launch programme on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sounds - it's the episode from 26 January 2023. Join the conversation on and @bbcwomanshour.