Institute of IT Training Awards Winners Announced

A sell-out audience of 400 people from all sections of the UK IT training industry attended the Institute of IT Training's IT Training Awards 2002 at the Dorchester Hotel in London on 7 February 2002.

Hosted and presented by television broadcaster Fiona Armstrong, the awards night celebrated the rise in standards evident in the quality of the training projects carried out by the finalists. According to Professional Services Director Tony Moss, the standard of this year’s entries was again at an all time high. "Since the Institute started the Awards six years ago, we have witnessed a continual rise in the standard of entries. Any one of the finalists this year probably would have won the award six years ago," he said.

Attendees had flown in from around the world, including the United States, Singapore, South Africa, Ireland, and throughout the UK to attend the awards.

The winner of the blue riband award – Training Company of the Year – went to SmartForce."We are delighted to present the Gold Award this year to the training team at SmartForce," said Colin Steed, chief executive of the Institute.

"The company has had a fantastic year and has carried out a whole re-engineering of the company. But what really impressed the judging panel was their excellent staff development programme, which runs throughout the company, from new recruit to chief executive.

Yvonne Mitchell, from News International Newspapers, was presented with the coveted Trainer of the Year Award by Danika Bakalich, from the award sponsors CompTIA. "We had a record number of 34 entries for this award," said Steed, "and this category again was the most difficult to judge for the panel. Any one of the finalists could have won - and deserved to be recognised by their employers." Steed explained that the judges had great difficulty finally coming up with a winner. "The chair of the judging panel for this category told me that Yvonne is an outstanding example to all trainers. Having said that, any of the six finalists would be very worthy winners."

DA Consulting Group & Unilever won the External Training Project of the Year. "We are delighted to present them with this award - it was an outstanding training project which provides a benchmark for training companies in how to work in partnership with a client to produce effective, efficient and measurable results. The judges were particularly impressed with the level of service provided to DA Consulting which is a lesson to all training providers."

This year’s IT Training Awards were selected by an independent panel of judges under the chairmanship of the Chief Executive Colin Steed. The award winners on the night are listed below.

Training Company of the Year Sponsored by Centra

• Gold: SmartForce
• Silver: PC Coaching
• Bronze: Happy Computers

Trainer of the Year Sponsored by CompTIA

• Gold: Yvonne Mitchell, News International Newspapers
• Silver: Steve Noxon, Eurostar UK
• Bronze: Gina Bees - DHL Systems.

Training Department of the Year Sponsored by VEGA Group plc

• Gold: Centrica IT Education & Training
• Silver: Corporation of London
• Bronze: AON Internal Training

• Gold: Herbert Smith
• Silver: Scottish Prison Service College
• Bronze: AON.

External Training Project of the Year Sponsored by Computing

• Gold: DA Consulting Group & Unilever
• Silver: QA & AstraZeneca;
• Bronze: PC Coaching & The Miller Group

International Project of the Year Sponsored by Tata Interactive Systems

• Gold: Electric Paper
• Silver: SmartForce
• Bronze: Global Learning Alliance

Training Manager of the Year Sponsored by Spring

Gold: Niall Gavin, Sussex Police

e-Learning Course of the Year Sponsored by Learndirect

• Gold: Manchester NHS Agency & LearnECDL
• Silver: Transco Learning & Development
• Bronze: SmartForce

Education Contribution of the Year Sponsored by Department for Education & Skills

• Winner: Ballyclare High School & Learning Schools Programme
• Silver: Bacons College

Colin Corder Award (for career services to IT training)

• Clive Shepherd

The Institute also took the opportunity of its annual Awards Dinner to unveil its new annual Charity Auction in aid of ChildLine - the free, confidential, national helpline for children in trouble or danger.

Following a brief presentation by ChildLine's Corporate Partnerships Executive Madeleine Bonicel, the Institute raised over £11,000 to help trained volunteer counsellors comfort, advise and protect children and young people.

A hospitality package for four people at the last Manchester United home game of the season was most keenly contested. "This prize, donated by The Executive Studio, shows how generous the IT training industry is, especially in current financial climate," said Tony Moss. "The other Charity Auction sponsors, NETg, Happy Computers and IT Training should be congratulated in sponsoring events in such difficult times," he said.

February 11th, 2002