Record numbers of female fund managers are competing for an FE fundinfo Alpha Fund Manager Award this year.

Among the nominees are Sophie Earnshaw, who is part of a joint team from Baillie Gifford competing in the Best Alpha Manager - Global Emerging Markets Equities category, as is Eva Fornadi from Comgest, who are competing in the Best Alpha Manager – European Equities category.

Dr. Ankur Crawford and Amy Zhang meanwhile are representing Alger Management in the Best Alpha Manager - US Equities category, while Sophia Li and Chantana Ward are part of joint teams representing First Sentier and Comgest respectively in the Best Alpha Manager – Japanese Equities category. Up against them will be Miyako Urabe from JP Morgan Asset Management, while in the Small Cap category, Amy Zhang is up for another award, and in the Best New Alpha Manager category, Denise Simon from Lazard has been nominated.

However, the nominees for the main Best Alpha Manager award in 2021 are still all male: John Boselli from Wellington Asset Management, David Eiswert and Ben Griffiths from T.Rowe Price, Douglas Brodie from Baillie Gifford and Anthony Smouha from GAM.

The Alpha Manager Awards, which are run each year by fund data firm FE fundinfo, identify and celebrate the so-called ‘Guardians of Fund Management’ across a range of investment categories.

The shortlist for each category was determined by identifying the highest scoring FE fundinfo Alpha Managers from the 2021 rebalance. A mix of quantitative and qualitative assessment was then applied to pick the most successful from this shortlist.