It’s been a year like few others – a global pandemic the world was ill-prepared for, the death of George Floyd and the global Black Lives Matter movement it spawned as a result, the knock-on effects that included a stretched and strained NHS, rocketing unemployment, increased child poverty and a long, hard look at the inequality that still exists in our world.
But in a world on its knees come the people determined to make a stand. And the GQ Men Of The Year Awards, in its 23rd year, has provided us with an opportunity to celebrate the people who made the world a better place over the past 12 months, when we've needed them most.
During the darkest stretch of the pandemic in April, when health workers were putting their lives on the line on a daily basis, army veteran Captain Sir Tom Moore began walking laps of his 25-metre garden in Bedfordshire with the aim of raising £1,000 for the NHS. But as word of his campaign spread on social media, he soon found himself at the centre of a media storm, as one bright spark in an era defined by death, anxiety and fear. By the end of his 100th birthday, on the 30th of April, he had raised £32.79 million. Two months later, he was knighted by the Queen on the prime minister's recommendation.
The following month, a video surfaced of police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of Minneapolis resident George Floyd for eight minutes and 46 seconds, bringing about a large scale resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. More heroes showed their faces, like Patrick Hutchinson, the personal trainer who was photographed carrying a white counter-protester to safety, John Boyega and Lewis Hamilton, who led by example and used their platforms to speak out about institutional racism.
Twenty-three-year-old Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford used his platform for good, too, taking to Twitter during the Premier League shutdown to campaign for free school meals for starving children over the summer holidays. After forcing a u-turn from Boris Johnson, he has been the best kind of thorn in the side of the Conservative government ever since.
And then there were the artists who helped us get through lockdown, like Michaela Coel, whose show I May Destroy You explored race and consent across 12 incredible episodes, and Paul Mescal, who gave us an acting masterclass in the BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney's Normal People.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Here is the full list of this year's winners…
Inspiration: Captain Sir Tom Moore
The thing that shines through more than anything in 100-year-old Second World War veteran Captain Sir Tom Moore is his sunny disposition, which was needed this year more than ever. After raising £32m for the NHS by walking laps in his garden, he has become a vital figure and a beacon of hope during the pandemic. “Negative thoughts don’t seem to be part of me. I always think of the beneficial things," he told GQ.
Read our interview with Captain Sir Tom Moore.
Hugo Boss Breakthrough Actor: Paul Mescal
Paul Mescal had a better 2020 than anyone else (not that there's much of a contest). After skyrocketing to fame with a remarkable performance in the BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney's Normal People, he was the lone star of The Rolling Stones' “Scarlet” video and he bagged himself a couple of high profile film roles, too. The young actor he took inspiration from? Timothée Chalamet.
“Timothée Chalamet just smashed it in [Call Me By Your Name]," Mescal told GQ. "He blew my mind, if I’m honest with you. I was so moved by it, it sort of shocked me. He is on another level and it just made me realise what a young actor, roughly the same age as me, could be capable of, the level I had to get up to."
Read our interview with Paul Mescal.
Game Changer: Lewis Hamilton
In his 14th season in Formula One, Lewis Hamilton has won more races than anyone else. And then there’s that other huge milestone, not just in his career but the history of his sport: a seventh world title. But it’s also his actions off the circuit that make him our Game Changer Of The Year, as he takes a knee and raises a fist for the global Black Lives Matter movement.
He told photographer Misan Harriman he was moved to speak out after watching the video of George Floyd's death: “My dad always said, ‘Do your talking on the track,’ so I held my tongue, but we suppress a lot of things and all my suppressed emotions came up and I was like, ‘You know what? I have to do something. I cannot stay silent.’ If we all stay silent, it will continue for generations.”
Read our interview with Lewis Hamilton.
Campaigner: Marcus Rashford
With some unprecedented downtime during the Premier League shutdown earlier this year, Manchester United's No10 focused his attention toward the national child hunger crisis prompting not one, but two u-turns from Boris Johnson and securing school meals for millions of families over the holidays. And he's just getting started…
“From a young age, I’ve always had this mentality that if I start something,” Rashford told GQ, “I can’t not finish it, not until I feel it’s been done to the best of my ability.”
Read our interview with Marcus Rashford.
Design Legend: Tommy Hilfiger
In an extremely tumultuous year for fashion, Tommy Hilfiger has been thriving, due to the brand's major – and prescient – investment in e-commerce. Thirty-five years after he launched the label, its founder explained why building his career on “disruption” continues to pay dividends.
“We decided to be disruptive," Hilfiger said. "And that word ‘disruption’ has stayed with me for now 35 years, as we’re always thinking ahead of what we have to do next in order to keep the brand relevant.”
Read our interview with Tommy Hilfiger.
Solo Artist: Shawn Mendes
Lockdown brought some much-needed time out for record-breaking pop star Shawn Mendes. It gave him a chance to finally spend some time with family and old friends after a whirlwind start to his career and three back-to-back No1 albums and four major tours. And with a pensive new record and an Netflix documentary released at the tail end of the year, he's channelled that positive energy into something special.
He told GQ about the simple joys of lockdown life: “I [was able to] have a routine, watch a movie nightly with family, do the dishes, stuff that sounds pretty mundane, but actually... when you’re living in a hotel room, you never do laundry.”
Read our interview with Shawn Mendes.
TV Personality: Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan has been one of the most vocal critics of the UK government since the beginning of the pandemic, to the point that no minister would agree to an interview on Good Morning Britain for months (Matt Hancock recently broke the standoff). For being the most severe voice of scrutiny when his country needs it most, GQ’s one-time rottweiler-in-chief is our TV Personality Of The Year.
“I would definitely not vote for Boris Johnson,” he told GQ. "So if it was a choice of him or anybody, frankly, I’d vote for anybody. He has been a total disaster as a leader. I voted for him on one issue: I couldn’t vote for Jeremy Corbyn."
Read our interview with Piers Morgan.
Humanitarian: Patrick Hutchinson
When Patrick Hutchinson was photographed holding a counter-protester on his shoulder to keep him safe from harm during this past summer’s Black Lives Matter rallies in London, it not only made front-page news around the world, but showed us all a glimmer of hope.
“It’s easy to sit by and say to any individual to be the bigger person and not to react and not let things escalate, but when you’re on the other end of racism and oppression it’s very difficult,” he said.
Maddox Gallery Artist: Charlie Mackesy
In this year of unparalleled uncertainty, the power of kindness, compassion and understanding was thrown into relief. No wonder, then, that the illustrator behind Instagram’s most poignant posts and, now, the book of the year spoke volumes to millions. For capturing our hearts with The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse, we commend our Maddox Gallery Artist Of The Year, whose visions of hope brought light in lockdown.
Mackesy told GQ Editor Dylan Jones about the inspiration behind his bestseller: “I started thinking about what the bravest thing I’d ever done was and I realised it was having the courage to ask for help, so that’s what I drew. The boy says, ‘What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done?’ And the horse says, ‘Help.’”
Lifetime Achievement: Ozzy Osbourne
It’s been 50 years since Black Sabbath took metal to the masses and, in 2020, with his new album and a world tour-in-waiting, their frontman is still far from ready to retire his solo career. For the GQ Men Of The Year issue, he told Tim Jonze about biting a head off a dove (yes, a dove)…
“That was just a thing at the record company where I was drunk at 7am in the morning,” he said. "Sharon said, ‘I want you to go into that office and throw these doves in the air.' So I threw one and then bit the head off the other one. It freaked everybody out. They banned me from the building after that. They nearly dropped me too!
Read our Ozzy Osbourne interview.
Creative Icon: Michaela Coel
In 2020’s boundary-breaking hit television show I May Destroy You, Michaela Coel played the lead, wrote the script, codirected and acted as executive producer. Not only is that unheard of for a young black British female auteur, but her drama tackled the crucial issues of the year with a depth and emotional intelligence that remains unmatched. It was and remains a staggering achievement and there’s no worthier recipient of our Creative Icon award. “Everybody is deeply traumatised... I think being alive is traumatic,” she told Olive Pometsey.
Peroni Breakthrough Designer: Daniel W Fletcher
From Central Saint Martins to being personally commissioned by Harry Styles, Daniel W Fletcher has, in just a few short years, carved out his own unique sartorial space. His collections of classically tailored silhouettes and ultramodern gender-fluid separates reframe perceptions of British fashion and take on the social and political issues that have dominated 2020.
"Harry [Styles] had a huge impact on my career,” Fletcher said. “At 24 years old I couldn’t believe what was happening.”
Hugo Boss Breakthrough Actress: Lashana Lynch
Taking on one billion-dollar franchise might seem daunting for an up-and-coming actor, but for Lashana Lynch two still isn’t enough. From theatre to Marvel to Bond, the first female 007 has already conquered the greatest frontiers in entertainment.
She told Thomas Barrie about her frustration surrounding the “black Bond” conversation: "The fact that you have to celebrate it, like it’s this New Age thing, like black people have just arrived on the planet. That’s what annoys me about the idea of Idris Elba being ‘the black Bond’... For my community, those are really big things, but for the world, I need you to not care about it.”
Read our interview with Lashana Lynch.
Icon: John Boyega
This summer, black communities across the world took up megaphones and refused to be ignored. For one British actor, it was a moment of strength, drawn from the crowd to channel its message in a raw, eviscerating address one June afternoon in London. And whether on Hollywood whitewashing or being erased from his own story, his voice – his community’s voice – continues to be heard.
Read our interview with John Boyega.
Watch the GQ Men Of The Year Awards, in association with Hugo Boss, on British GQ's YouTube channel here.
