Who is your woman of the year?

Cheryl Cole was recently awarded the great accolade that is Glamour's Woman of the Year, in a £25,000 dress, and replied with the fantastic heart-felt quote:

"Four or five years ago I'd never dreamt I'd be here amongst so may glamorous women. One person I definitely have to thank is my dentist. So thank you very much."

I believe a giant thank you is in order, from the whole nation, as her toothy grin has comforted every X-factor reject for the last two years. Making the world a much better place! In fact I think awarding her the Nobel Peace Prize would have caused less controversy than giving it to Obama. I know her dedication to grooming, even through a divorce, makes me want to cut funding to the military and give it all to L'Oreal ...because I'm worth it (apologies, poor humour)!

Other winners for the 2010 awards included Nicole Richie, as Entrepreneur of the Year. After 82 minutes in prison, and a acting career that lasted the same amount of time, she managed to turn her drug-riddled-media-fueled-socialite-life around and design jewellery. Don't get me wrong, I like shiny things as much as the next magpie, but I don't think her line is going to rival Anita Roddick's contributions to the disadvantaged quite yet. (Actually I just googled her jewellery and I've seen shinier!) It is quite nice though.

All this did make me think back to an article my friend sent me at the end of last year on a true woman of the year, in my opinion (and hers): Emily Cummings. A student at Leeds and inventor of a fridge that doesn't require electricity or solar power, which could benefit developing countries by allowing them to store life-saving medication. I can't do it justice, so to have a read click here.

Emily's fridge is powered by dirty water.

In this cult of celebrity I find her truly inspirational.