What a fantastic night we had at the PA Life Christmas party and the announcement of the PA Life Star Awards 2023 winners. Huge congratulations to the winners and finalists in each of the six categories of what was our eighth year of PA awards.
We kicked off the festive season in style at Inca London, a Latin American themed restaurant with over 150 PAs and EAs, and our fantastic event sponsors and partners. The annual Star Awards is a great way for us to celebrate the start of the Christmas season as well as put the spotlight on the amazing Assistants within our community.
Congratulations to all the Star Awards finalists and winners!
The quality of nominations in our eighth year of PA awards this year was incredibly high and the work of our esteemed assistant industry expert judges was made all the more difficult for that reason. Thank you our judges: Abigail Jones, EA at Instagram and a PA Coach; Sarah Howson, founder of Strategic PA Recruitment; Kathy Soulsby founder and director of Personally Virtual; Suzy Sanders,founder and franchisor of Alchemy VA and Rosemary Parr, Founder of the Global PA Association.
Five of the six categories had a shortlist three finalist, the exception was made for the PA of the Year category where we struggled to keep it to three and shortlisted a forth finalist. We invited PAs, EAs, VAs and Office Managers to nominate themselves, a colleague or a friend in our simple and quick nomination process, plus also enclose at least one testimonial from their boss or a senior colleague.
The PA Life Star Awards 2023 winners are
PA Star of the Year – Rebecca Polson, Executive Support Manager, Alzheimer’s Research UK
The Star of all Stars award! The PA Star of the Year award celebrates the work of one Assistant over the past year. It is awarded to an Assistant who has had an impact on their workplace, going above and beyond duty to make processes smoother and their Execs’ and/or their teams’ lives easier.
PA Star of the Year: Rebecca Polson, Executive Support Manager, Alzheimer’s Research UK – middle, with colleagues Julie Williams (left) and Sarah Timms (right)
Rising Star – Milly Diment, Client and Business Support Manager, The Health Matters Group
This category celebrates outstanding Assistants who have been working in the sector for less than five years, but have demonstrated excellence in their approach to their role in supporting their executives and wider teams.
Rising Star 2023: Milly Diment, Client and Business Support Manager, The Health Matters Group (absent from the winners’ group photo)
Virtual Assistant Star – Emma Newburn, Virtual Assistant, Share The Load
As the name suggests, this accolade was awarded to an individual who has shown exceptional applications of services to clients.
Virtual Assistant Star: Emma Newburn, Virtual Assistant, Share The Load
PA Life Club Member Star – Azar Shariati, Head of HR & Administration, Persia International Bank plc
Awarded to the member of the PA Life Club who has shown strong commitment to supporting the Club by attending events, and engaging with other Club initiatives.
PA Life Club Star: Azar Shariati, Head of HR & Administration, Persia International Bank plc
Commitment to CSR Star – Caroline Rees Williams – Operations Manager, The Valesco Group
This award was presented to the Assistant who has helped their organisation make a difference within their workplace or the wider community, via sustainability and green initiatives, charity work and more.
Commitment to CSR Star: Caroline Rees Williams, Operations Manager, The Valesco Group
Commitment to Wellbeing Star – Sarah Miller, PA to Directors, Marble
The winning Assistant in this category has actively helped their execs, teams and organisations with wellbeing and wellness initiatives, either by introducing projects and programmes, or by managing them.
Commitment to Wellbeing Star: Sarah Miller, PA to Directors, Marble (right) with Caroline Rees Williams
Congratulations to all our amazing Stars!
Our event sponsors and partners:
We’d like to thank all of our Sponsors and Partners who are supporting this incredible event and being there to celebrate with us and with our guests from the Assistant community.
Inca London is the first cabaret style, up-scale restaurant in the Soho and Mayfair area offering extravagant, theatrical, and glamorous Latin American performances that take you on a exciting journey to this vibrant continent. Fantastic food and cocktails complete your party. Three versatile rooms available for exclusive hire.
Eventify UK are a London-based event management agency committed to providing an unrivalled bespoke and personal service, no matter how big or small the event. We specialise in venue finding, face-to-face celebrations, hospitality solutions, and hybrid and virtual events. Our clients include large and small corporate businesses and private party organisers.
Rebecca Polson receiving her Star Awards from Rebecca Thomas, Eventify UK
Native Places helps you plug into cities and communities – whether you’re passing through or making permanent plans. The ApartHotels are ideal for energetic travellers, curious families, work trippers, one-nighters, or staycayers.
Caroline Rees Williams receiving her Star Awards from Steph Bolsher Native Places
Kia Oval is not just one of the most famous cricket venues in the world, it operates 365 days of the year as one of the capital’s leading Conference and Events spaces. Right in the heart of London, it’s an extremely accessible venue with a variety of different small, medium and large Event spaces, perfect for a party or event for any type of business.
Joe Baldwin, Kia Oval, presenting the PA Life Club Star
So Blooming Beautiful are an event florist with a passion to create “wow moments” for the most important events in a person’s life. That means to create one-of-a-kind, transformative designs that will translate who you are as a couple or a company and show that to your guests.
TreatYourStaff was created to help businesses with wellbeing strategies and employee events. Our mission is to improve employee wellbeing and productivity. We have a group of wellbeing specialists in various fields proven to be beneficial in supporting wellbeing.
Miss Balooniverse travels the world, often to celebrity parties and events, injecting colour, glamour and fun into parties and events with favourite characters, outrageous costumes, elegant jewellery and caricatures – all made from balloons of course!
Want to partner with us?
For any partnership and advertising enquiries, please contact our Media Manager Lucy Gallivan at l.gallivan@forumevents.co.uk
The PA Life Star Awards will return in 2024 with nominations opening early autumn. Check our Upcoming Events diary to be the first to hear the news.
