UK coatings sector celebrates young talent at record-breaking ceremony for 13th annual industry excellence awards

The winners of the 2023 British Coatings Federation (BCF) Awards were announced on 19th October at The Grand Hotel in Birmingham. Over 200 delegates attended the biggest-ever event in the 13 years of running the awards. 

The highlight of the evening was celebrating the amazing young talent coming through in the sector, recognised in the Apprentice of the Year Award, won by Sean Kelly from Anstey Wallpaper Company; Young Leader of the Year Award, won by Molly Kershaw from PPG Architectural Coatings and Student of the Year Award, which saw Courtney Turner from Tor Coatings win. 

Recognising investment in people, Sherwin-Williams were awarded the Diversity and Inclusion Award, followed by HMG Paints being presented as the winner of the Excellence in Training Award. 

The Sustainable Innovation Multinational Award was won by Siegwerk for UniNATURE, and the Sustainable Innovation SME Award was presented to Terrafend for Ambimization®. A new category for 2023 was launched, Race to Net Zero, with its first-ever win being awarded to Crown Paints. 

The sustainability theme carried on through the evening with the Coatings Care Progress Award was given to winning site Becker Industrial Coatings, and Overall Best Performer was awarded to Tor Coatings. The Corporate Social Responsibility Award was taken home by PPG Architectural Coatings for their Community Engagement Programme. 

The Customer Service Award was presented to AkzoNobel’s Dulux Decorator Centre. For Marketing Campaign of the Year, it was the ‘AI-generated colour range’ campaign that took home the award for HMG Paints. 

In her first event as BCF President, Sharon Harte, Managing Director of Dacrylate Paints, commented: “It is so exciting to see so much young talent in our sector, demonstrated in our Student, Apprentice and Young Leader of the Year categories. Many congratulations to all those who were shortlisted, but especially to the winners”. 

The BCF would like to thank our Award sponsors, Stort Group, BASF, The Paint Foundation, Verlingue, Synthomer, Xyntra, Fenton Packaging, Tronox, Crusader Vehicle Leasing and GDB Paint & Coatings for their support.

BCF Award Winners 2023

• Sustainable Innovation Multinational Award 2023 
  SIEGWERK – UniNATURE 
  Sponsored by Tronox 

• Sustainable Innovation SME Award 2023 
  Terrafend – Ambimization® 
  Sponsored by Xyntra 

• Race to Net Zero Award 2023 
  Crown Paints 

• Corporate Social Responsibility Award 2023 
  PPG Architectural Coatings – Community Engagement Programme 

• Customer Service Award 2023 
  AkzoNobel, Dulux Decorator Centre – Customer Segmentation 
  Sponsored by Crusader Vehicle Leasing 

• Marketing Campaign of the Year Award 2023 
  HMG Paints – AI-Generated Colour Range 
  Sponsored by GDB Paint & Coatings

• Student of the Year Award 2023 
  Courtney Turner, Tor Coatings 
  Sponsored by Synthomer 

• Apprentice of the Year Award 2023 
  Sean Kelly, Anstey Wallpaper Company 
  Sponsored by Stort Group 

• Young Leader of the Year Award 2023 
  Molly Kershaw, PPG Architectural Coatings 
  Sponsored by Fenton Packaging 

• Coatings Care Progress Award 2023 
  Becker Industrial Coatings 
  Sponsored by The Paint Foundation 

• Coatings Care Overall Best Performer Award 2023 
  Tor Coatings 
  Sponsored by Verlingue