The Guild of Motoring Writers (GOMW) and Women On the Move Against Cancer (WOMAC) awarded Paul Philpott, Kia UK’s President and CEO with its inaugural Award for Fundraising at the GOMW annual awards ceremony on 5 December 2024 at The RAC Club in London. Sponsored by Sims Images, the award recognises a member of the automotive industry or an automotive media organisation that has made a significant endeavour in fundraising for charity.During his time working at Kia, Philpott has supported a number of UK-based charities. Since 2014, Kia has supported a main charity partner every year with donations made for every vehicle sold by Kia UK. In the past decade close to £1 million has been donated to three charities: Walton Charity, The Children’s Trust and the Surrey Wildlife Trust.As well as supporting key charity partners, Philpott has contributed to specific automotive industry charities. Since 2007, Kia has made a donation per car to the industry charity Ben, alongside other industry causes.Personally, Philpott has been a supporter of The Children’s Trust for more than 25 years, running two London marathons for the charity which supports children with brain injuries. In 2017 he raised £37,000 which went towards the full refurbishment of one of the Trust’s specialist children’s dormitories at Tadworth. In 2018, he gathered a team of eight colleagues who collectively raised more than £50,000, this money was used to install multiple covered wheelchair pathways in Tadworth.Philpott has also been a long-term supporter for underprivileged children in Sudan and is a regular contributor to the Teenage Cancer Trust.The GOMW and WOMAC Award for Fundraising is open to Guild and non-Guild members alike.Georgia Fox, Chair of WOMAC, said: “We would like to thank The Guild of Motoring Writers for working with us to introduce this new award. Team WOMAC works tirelessly to support our chosen charities, we were delighted to receive so many nominations for groups, companies and individuals doing so much for their chosen charities.”
