With a record number of submissions from individuals and organisations from across the globe, the winners were selected from a competitive field of entrants, all of whom demonstrated exceptional vision and depth in providing learning solutions with a proven business impact. The Learning and Performance Institute assembled a collection of industry visionaries to form the independent judging panel, chaired by Nigel Paine, Colin Steed, Sue Bradshaw, and Charles Jennings, who combed through hundreds of submissions to select the very best.

Popular British television and radio presenter Claudia Winkleman once again hosted the event, which took place at the 5-star Dorchester Hotel on London's Park Lane. The ceremony was filled with international figureheads from the global learning community, who joined the awards finalists to celebrate outstanding success across fourteen award categories.

The standout categories included Learning Provider of the Year, which was won by Mind Gym, whilst the Learning Team of the Year, dominated by a host of well-known names, including BT, RBS, SAP SE, and Rentokil Initial, went to Villeroy & Boch AG. The hotly contested Learning Technologies Award was won by Tata Consultancy Services, with Fuse Universal and BI Worldwide close behind with respective Silver and Bronze awards.

The coveted CLO of the year was won by Naomi Lockwood of Cambridge Assessment, whilst the Learning Professional of the Year 2017 was Hull College's Darren Storer.

This year, the ceremony presented its Colin Corder Award for Services to Learning to Nick Shackleton-Jones, a true visionary in the learning-and-development world. Nick has regularly thought the unthinkable and, indeed, written in his blog about a world where even the term 'learning' is dropped from the corporate lexicon in favour of more precise terms like performance support or career development. Nick takes his rightful place among other learning luminaries such as Elliott Masie, Jane Hart, Charles Jennings, and Bob Mosher.

Speaking at the awards, LPI Managing Director, Ed Monk, said, "With a record number of entries this year, over 400, to be a finalist is in itself an outstanding achievement. I hope that your organisations are proud of you and the real impact you have had on the performance of the business. Tonight, there are no winners and losers. You are all 'the best of the best'."

The evening commenced with the LPI Charity Auction in aid of Dreamflight, a small charity who take seriously ill or disabled children to Disneyland Florida each year. The LPI has raised over £370,000 for children's charities since the Auction was launched in 1999.

The Learning Awards 2017 Winners

Sponsored by BCS Learning & Development Ltd.

Internal Learning Solution of the Year - Sponsored by QA

Gold Winner: Dell Sales L&D

Silver: Barclays Internal Audit

Bronze: Kotak Mahindra, Old Mutual Life Insurance

External Learning Solution of the Year - Sponsored by Virtual College

Gold Winner: GoodPractice & Edrington

Silver: Growth Engineering & House of Fraser

Bronze: Kineo & Australia Sports Anti-Doping Authority

Apprenticeship Programme of the Year - Sponsored by CompTIA

Gold Winner: Softcat

Silver: Anchor

Bronze: Babcock Clyde

People Development Programme of the Year - Sponsored by Insights

Gold Winner: Migros Retail Academy

Silver: Bouygues Energies and Services

Bronze: Avis Budget

Learning Technologies Award - Sponsored by Microsoft

Gold Winner: Tata Consultancy Services

Silver: BI Worldwide

Bronze: Fuse Universal & Vodafone

Innovation in Learning Award - Sponsored by Afiniti

Gold Winner: Citi

Silver: Netex

Bronze: Digits

Social & Collaborative Media Award - Sponsored by TOPSIM/Tata Interactive Systems

Gold Winner: Ketchum

Silver: BT

Bronze: Kineo & Barclays

Start-up Learning Provider of the Year - Sponsored by Filtered

Gold Winner: IntraQuest Training

Silver: Century Tech

Bronze: Appitierre

Onboarding Programme of the Year - Sponsored by Blue Eskimo

Gold Winner: Growth Engineering & Steinhoff

Silver: Gekko & Google GEM

Bronze: State Street Global Advisors

Learning Professional of the Year - Sponsored by Fuse Universal

Gold Winner: Darren Storrer, Hull College

Silver: Joe Tidman, GSK

Bronze: Kate Nicholls, Sponge

CLO of the Year - Sponsored by Safety Media

Gold Winner: Naomi Lockwood, Cambridge Assessment

Silver: Emma Lyon, Cavendish Nuclear

Bronze: Emma Barber, Spicerhaart

Learning Provider of the Year - Sponsored by Training Zone

Gold Winner: Mind Gym

Silver: Virtual College

Bronze: CPL Online

Learning Team of the Year - Sponsored by TTS

Gold Winner: Villeroy & Boch AG

Silver: Rentokil Initial

Bronze: Look Ahead

Colin Corder Award - Sponsored by Pluralsight

Winner: Nick Shackleton-Jones