This year's "Learning Technologies Award" was one of the most fiercely competitive categories of the night, with a record number of entrants. Toolwire, a leader in experiential learning solutions, was delighted to being announced as this year's winner. Toolwire further won the "Instructional Designer of the Year" for Michael Watkins groundbreaking work in instructional technology for higher education.

Both medals were awarded for Toolwire's development of Immersive Learning Environments. Immersive Learning Environments enable students to enter photo-realistic learnscapes where they can interact with video characters to acquire information, demonstrate knowledge, and apply course concepts in "virtual internships" across a broad spectrum of subjects.

Unique in their simplicity of design, learnscapes are extremely powerful in their ability to engage students. Toolwire's Immersive Learning Environments have been accessed over a million times by 100,000 students across many of the world's leading universities. These learning solutions have significantly improved students' course-completion rates.

Also in attendance at the Awards was ChildLine founder Esther Rantzen. Ms Rantzen was on hand to present possibly the most poignant Award of the night, which was bestowed upon IITT Chief Executive, Colin Steed. Mr. Steed was made an NSPCC Patron in recognition of the IITT's fundraising efforts, which amounted to over £200,000 for the helpline service.

Commenting on the Institute's support of ChildLine and the success of the Awards, Steed says, "We are proud to have raised such an amount for ChildLine and would like to thank everyone who has helped us to accomplish it over the last nine years. That includes the dedicated IITT team, all of the individuals and organisations that have sponsored auction prizes, as well as everyone who has bid on items over the years. It costs £1600 to recruit and train a volunteer ChildLine counselor, and ChildLine needs many more - this has been our motivation. There are now many ChildLine counsellors in place because of the generosity of the IITT Charity Auction participants."

Steed concluded, "The Awards continue to be a cherished event for the learning community. The ceremony provides an opportunity for the industry to get together to celebrate and appreciate the fantastic work of so many individuals and organisations."