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Expats vote on the crème de la crème of French in London
Nick Curtis11 Jul 2008
Vive la différence! Bond girl Eva Green, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger and fashion designer Roland Mouret are among the nominees in a poll that celebrates the most talented members of London's 300,000-strong French community.
Others shortlisted in the Français Of The Year Awards include Hibiscus chef Claude Bosi, designer Nicole Fahri and financiers and businesspeople such as outgoing EMI chairman Jean- Francois Cecillon and Emmanuel Roman, co-chief executive of hedge fund managers GLG.
The awards are the brainchild of investment banker Laurent Feniou, 37, a father of two who has lived in London for 15 years.
"It started out in 2007 as a way of celebrating the big contribution the French make to London in their different fields and a social networking exercise, so actors, footballers, chefs and businessmen could get to know one another," he said.
"Now we are in the middle of all this English gloom and doom, I see it as a way of bringing a little bit of positivity and celebrating the wonderful multicultural nature of the city."
Last year voting in the online poll was confined to London-based alumni of the grands écoles - the French business, administration and engineering schools that produce the majority of the country's high fliers.
Some 3,500 of them voted for their favourite chef, banker, chief executive, sportsman and artist.
This year Mr Feniou has added categories for entrepreneurs and rising talents, and hopes that the wider community of expatriates will take part, although he is mindful of voter fraud.
"Last year there was a knock-on effect and we got votes from 78 different countries, which we had to discount," he said.
"And two men stayed up all night to vote for Eva Green 3,000 times, although we only counted them as one vote each."
It is an indication of how deeply integrated French and English culture has become in London that a surge of protest from female voters forced Mr Feniou to add Noémie Lenoir, a star of the Marks & Spencer advertising campaigns, to the 2008 nominees list.
The online poll is open from Monday - Bastille Day - until 30 September. Last year the prizegiving lunch was held in Club Gascon, the Smithfield restaurant run by the winning chef, Pascal Aussignac.
Alongside Mr Bosi, other chefs on this year's shortlist are Michel Roux Jr, Joel Robuchon, Raymond Blanc and Pierre Gagnaire.
Mr Feniou said: "The winners get a glass award, there is no financial component to it, and the nice thing is that the winners and their fellow nominees all come along together. It's a really great party."
