Educational Awards Dinner

This year's ABFA Educational Awards Dinner was held on Wednesday 16th March 2011 at The Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington once again. This event saw 141 people from the invoice finance industry attend this black tie event to recognise and celebrate the efforts of those professionals within the industry who have applied themselves to further their qualifications and careers. It was rewarding to see our members applauding the achievements of their most deserving staff.

The evening began at 7.15 with a glass of champagne at the Welcome Reception. John Bevan, ABFA Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Barclays Asset and Sales Finance, welcomed everyone to the event and held the attention of the guests as he reminded us of the extensive work of the Education Committee in 2010 and the importance of training and education.

Following dinner, Steve Backley OBE, took the stage to present the awards. Steve, former javelin World Record Holder, hosted the award ceremony. Twenty years of competing against the best athletes in the world has given Steve the ability to understand and explain what it takes to cope with immense pressure. Sponsors then started reading out the winners of the awards. The awards ceremony consisted of 6 publicised awards generously sponsored by organisations who continue to contribute greatly to the success of the ABFA. Congratulations to all of the award winners, who are listed below.

After the awards ceremony Steve continued to inspire the audience during an after-dinner speech consisting of more success from his outstanding career. Throughout the proceedings Steve was relaxed and professional as he went on to explain the results of his outstanding sporting career, showing clips of key moments and explaining how he measures his career; not always in the same way as the colour of his Olmypic medals would suggest. His presentation skills contributed greatly to everyone's enjoyment of the night and he proved to be an extremely popular choice of guest. Finally, it was time to get everyone up and moving on the dancefloor. The music was provided by Sound Foundation. As always with this event, the celebrations went on well into the night!

A wonderful evening was had by all and many congratulations to all those students nominated and to all the winners below!

Photos of this great night will be available shortly.