Now it their thirteenth year, the Awards are firmly established as a benchmark for excellence in the IT Training Industry, recognizing and celebrating outstanding examples of high standards, best practice, innovation, and excellence.

The IT Training Awards 2009 will take place in a glittering ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel, London on Thursday, 5 February 2009 and will be attended by the most influential industry figures.

An IT Training award is an accolade that is celebrated and respected throughout the IT training industry and can often prove to be the differentiating factor in a purchasing decision in a competitive market place.

The year 2009 will see the launch of the Innovation in Training Services award. This award has been introduced to celebrate the most effective implementation of the latest developments in learning technology and techniques in the IT Training industry.

The introduction of this award brings the total of categories to thirteen, allowing a wide spectrum of organisations and individuals to enter the awards. The Institute is inviting entries for the following categories:

• Training Company of the Year sponsored by Prometric
• Training Department of the Year sponsored by IBM
• Training Department of the Year (public sector)
• Internal Training Project of the Year sponsored by SAS
• External Training Project of the Year sponsored by Ricoh
• Blended Learning Project of the Year sponsored by EMC
• Learning Facilities of the Year sponsored by 2e2
• Staff Development Programme of the Year sponsored by Oracle University
• Innovation in Training Services Award sponsored by itSMF UK
• Training Manager of the Year sponsored by Hewlett Packard
• Freelance Trainer of the Year sponsored by Capital Training
• Trainer of the Year sponsored by OCR
• The Colin Corder Award for outstanding contributions to IT training sponsored by Pearson VUE

The winner of the Colin Corder award is selected through peer nomination. A full list of category descriptions and details on how to enter is available at the Awards website.
Award winners not only receive their award to display; they will also benefit from post-event recognition and the exclusive use of an IITT IT Training Award winner's logo for their promotional literature.

Speaking of last year's event, Sean Turnbull, Training Manager at Cadburys said, "For us as a team, the whole event was fantastic. We really enjoyed the venue, pre-dinner drinks, and the meal itself. It was great to catch up with old colleagues. The guest speaker and charity auction were both very good. The awards themselves were brilliant."

He continued, "Winning the Internal Project of the Year was fantastic and then also picking up Training Department of the Year made the night perfect. It is excellent to get external validation for the innovation and quality of work the team produce and the internal processes we work to ensure our offerings are world class."

There is no charge to enter the IT Training awards 2009, but the rewards and new opportunities for winners are considerable. The closing date for entries is Tuesday 30th September 2008.