Awards night success
A sell-out audience of 400 people from all sections of the IT training industry attended the Institute of IT Training's IT Training Awards 2003 at the Dorchester last night (6 February 2003).
Hosted and presented by television broadcaster Fiona Armstrong, the awards night itself was a night of celebration of the rise in standards which was 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.
The Institute also took the opportunity of its annual Awards Dinner to run its annual Charity Auction, proceeds in aid of ChildLine. Following a brief presentation by Carole Easton, ChildLine's Managing Director, the Institute raised over £12,000 for the children's charity.
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 Parity Training.
"We are delighted to present the Gold Award this year to the training team at Parity Training," said Colin Steed, chief executive of the Institute. " Parity Training was commended by the judging panel for its dedication to customers and staff in 2002. The judges believed that initiatives such as the customer-service teams and the First Class Alliance Programme are hallmarks of an outstanding training provider. Furthermore, Parity seems set to build on this performance, with the opening of new locations and winning contracts like Educating the House."
Dominic Betts, from Parity Training, was presented with the coveted Trainer of the Year Award by Gerry O'Keefe, from the award sponsors OCR. "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 Dominic is an outstanding example to all trainers. Having said that, any of the six finalists would be very worthy winners."
Skillsoft and the NHS won the e-Learning Project of the Year. Chairman of the judging panel John Hall said: "This project combined considerable energy and application to provide the learning that the NHS community were desperate for. The sheer scale of the audience and the short timescales to achieve the impact required presented logistical obstacles that have been successfully overcome by effective implementation. Skillsoft and the NHS are very worthy winners of this prestigious award."
- Belfast City Council scooped two Gold Awards, for Training Department of the Year and Internal Training Project of the Year.
- Alan Bellinger won the Colin Corder Award for services to IT training
- The Uganda Project, carried out by Teresa Gane and Mary Berridge of Happy Computers won a special award, The Chief Executive's Commendation.
This year's IT Training Awards were selected by an independent panel of judges under the chairmanship of the John Hall MBE and Chief Executive Colin Steed.
The award winners on the night are listed below.
Training Company of the Year Sponsored by Centra
Gold: Parity Training
Silver: Spring IT Training
Bronze: Happy Computers
Trainer of the Year Sponsored by OCR
Gold: Dominic Betts, Parity Training
Silver: Kate Greaves, QA
Bronze: Claire Townley, AON
Training Department of the Year Sponsored by Spring
Gold: Belfast City Council
Silver: National Grid Transco
Bronze: Norwich Union
Internal Training Project of the Year Sponsored by Parity Solutions
Gold: Belfast City Council
Silver: Abbey National
Bronze: Sussex Police
External Training Project of the Year Sponsored by Learning & Skills Council
Gold: Stehle Associates & Charles Stanley & Co
Silver: DACG & Alstom Power
Bronze: Electric Paper & UFI Learndirect
International Project of the Year Sponsored by CompTIA
Gold: PTC Learning & Development Europe
Silver: Electric Paper & Colorado State University
Training Manager of the Year Sponsored by Consensus
Gold: Jayne Edwards, HBOS
Silver: Richard Malam, Centrica
Bronze: Duncan Harkins, Scottish Prison Service College
e-Learning Course of the Year Sponsored by Ufi Learndirect
Gold: Skillsoft & NHS
Silver: LearnFish & CMS Cameron McKenna
Bronze: National Grid Transco
Education Contribution of the Year Sponsored by Department for Education & Skills
Gold: Harrow School
Silver: MANCAT - David Watts
Colin Corder Award (for career services to IT training)
Alan Bellinger
Chief Executive's Special Commendation
The Uganda Project: Mary Berridge & Teresa Gane (Happy Computers) & Christine Olaniyan (PADEAP)
[Colour pictures are available from Nicki Kettle at Institute House.]