Achievements in retail celebrated at the 2012 Retail Week Awards

Last night saw the return of the Oracle Retail Week Awards, the biggest night in the retail calendar. The event highlights some of the great achievements in the industry throughout the last year, despite tough the tough economic climate.

Comedian Greg Davies entertained the 1600 strong crowd at the Grosvenor House Hotel before Jeremy Vine took on hosting duties to hand out the awards. Gaudio have designed the coveted awards for several years. It has largely remained the same, which slight cosmetic changes each year.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Lord Harris of Peckham for his story of someone who is still standing despite a number of his competitors failing. Lord Harris was commended for being a great example of how retail can engage with society and was applauded for the time of the London riots, how he took the opportunity to talk the social fabric of today's society and retail can help to rebuild Britain. A well-deserved win and a true inspiration.

A full list of the winners, which included Dixons, Sainsbury's, Debenhams and Argos, can be found on the RetailWeek website