AAT members and training providers triumph at PQ Awards

AAT members, training providers, and affiliated colleges triumphed at last night’s PQ Awards. The annual event held by PQ Magazine celebrates the success of students and providers that contribute to the accountancy profession, with a focus on part-qualified and newly qualified talent. 2025 marks the 22nd year of the awards which were hosted at the Salsa Temple in central London on Monday 28th April. 

AAT member Grace Hardy took home the coveted ‘Accountancy Personality of the Year’ trophy alongside ‘Podcast of the Year.’ The awards come as Grace continues to advocate for apprenticeships as a valuable career path to unleash potential, with her AAT training equipping her with the skillset to launch her own successful practice. Her winning podcast, The Unconventional Podcast, invites guests to discuss the diverse paths to fulfilling careers and featured an interview with AAT CEO Sarah Beale discussing her unique career journey.  

Recently appointed AAT Members’ Advisory Council (MAC) member Katarina Collins was awarded ‘NQ of the Year.’ The award recognises her passion for accountancy after her studies with AAT allowed her to successfully change career almost a decade ago. Katarina now shares her enthusiasm for providing valuable CPD to local AAT members as well as passionately promoting mental health support in the industry. 

There was also success for AAT training providers with Faye Hill of Chesterfield College winning ‘Accountancy Lecturer of the Year’ and Lauren Healy of Buzzacott LLP taking ‘Training Manager of the Year.’ Faye’s award recognition follows her work developing workplace readiness initiatives as well as pioneering development sessions with local accountancy firms to strengthen career pathways. Faye has also supported over 20 Ukranian students to develop employability skills and find work. Similarly, Lauren is dedicated to building accessible career pathways in accountancy at Buzzacott.  

AAT sponsored the ‘Accountancy College of the Year’ in both the public and private sector categories. These awards recognised the role of colleges in delivering the valuable training that opens fulfilling career paths for their students. Rachel Staples, Product Director at AAT, announced the winners: University of Chichester Business School (public sector) and AccountancySchool.ie (private sector). 
 
The full list of winners can be found below: 

STUDENT BODY OF THE YEAR: University of Chichester Business Society 

ACCOUNTANCY BODY OF THE YEAR: ICAS 

ACCOUNTANCY COLLEGE OF THE YEAR (PUBLIC SECTOR): University of Chichester Business School 

ACCOUNTANCY COLLEGE OF THE YEAR (PRIVATE SECTOR): AccountancySchool.ie 

ONLINE COLLEGE OF THE YEAR: Premier Training 

ACCOUNTANCY LECTURER OF THE YEAR (PUBLIC SECTOR): Faye Hill, Chesterfield College 

ACCOUNTANCY LECTURER OF THE YEAR (PRIVATE SECTOR): Anum Hassan, FC Training 

STUDY RESOURCE OF THE YEAR: Kaplan’s Enrichment and Inclusion Weeks 

INNOVATION IN ACCOUNTANCY: The Net Zero Accountancy Initiative 

BEST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA: TCS Guernsey 

PODCAST OF THE YEAR: The Unconventional Podcast, Grace Hardy 

TRAINING MANAGER/MENTOR OF THE YEAR: Lauren Healy, Buzzacott LLP 

ACCOUNTANCY TEAM OF THE YEAR: Wildstar Films, Finance Department  

GRADUATE/APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING PROGRAMME OF THE YEAR: Flying Start, Queen Mary University of London 

ACCOUNTANCY PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR: Grace Hardy 

EDITOR’S SPECIAL AWARD: Martin Jomes, LSBF 

EDITOR’S SPECIAL AWARD: June & Garry Carter, ICB 

PQ HALL OF FAME: Clare Finch, HTFT 

ACCOUNTANCY APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR: Malachi Swen, Morrisons 

DISTANCE LEARNING STUDENT OF THE YEAR: Katy Hickey 

ACCOUNTANCY GRADUATE OF THE YEAR: Avneet Chopra, Queen Mary University, London 

NQ OF THE YEAR: Katarina Collins 

PQ OF THE YEAR: Sunny Yang