The Alison North New Professionals Award

Founded in 2010 by Alison North and the IRMS, this award is aimed at celebrating some of the diverse and brilliant talent that we have coming into the industry.

Alison has always been a firm supporter of new talent and was the patron of the award until 2024, passing the baton to Scott Sammons after her retirement. Scott is himself a previous NPA winner and previous Chair of the Society - an example that NPA winners can go on to do anything!

So whether you are a student studying something information-related, or you are within three years of starting in the profession, take a look and see if the NPA can boost your learning and your career!

David Reeve (Vice-Chair), Joseph Hettrick (2024 winner), Jaana Pinnick (Chair) at the 2024 Awards

The Prize:

The winner of the New Professionals Award has a choice as to what they would like to receive. The options are the following:

• A fully funded place at the IRMS Conference in May, including attendance at the Gala Dinner, hosted at a table by Scott Sammons (the current patron); or
• £500 worth of book vouchers to be spent on course materials and books on Information and Records Management.  

As the winner of the New Professionals Award you will also:

• receive a certificate and trophy award
• have your winning article to the IRMS Bulletin for publication
• receive a logo as an award winner for use on your materials, email signatures etc
• have access to mentoring and advice from Scott Sammons
• join a diverse and illustrious group of previous award winners! 

Criteria:

This award is only open to those who are either within the first three years of their career in information and records management or who are currently studying full time a subject relating to data, information and records management. This includes an apprenticeship like the Level 4 DP & IG Apprenticeship.  

If this is you, in order to enter the New Professionals Award you need to submit an article, in any format (so written or recorded), based on a topic of your choosing. The subject matter should be related to information, records or data, but can be about any aspect of it. Take a look below for some inspiration if you need it.

Your entry must:

• if it’s a written piece, then it is to be submitted in Word (or similar) format (no PDFs please) and be no more than 1000 words long
• be in English, if possible. If this poses any issues for you please contact us beforehand
• if pre-recorded, be in a media format that is playable on any device
• have been submitted before the closing date of 31 January 2025. See below details for how to submit

Unlike our other awards you do not need another person to nominate you and you do not need to be a member of the IRMS. However, if you are a student, IRMS student membership is free, so why not become one!

Insights into what we are looking for:
We encourage also those who have discovered information and records management through another profession and may be involved in data and information management as part of another field such as governance, security, analytics, digital preservation, IT etc.

Your submission could be anything, like imaginative future thinking or a different perspective on current practice, comment on the core fundamentals, a successful project or even a failed one and how it shaped your thinking. We would love to hear your new ideas on how to work with all things digital.

What we are looking for is something different. Alison was always known as a disruptor throughout her career and was always looking for fresh ideas, new approaches and challenging thoughts. Be bold, be brave, and share with our wonderful community what you think of the practice, the profession, or a specific topic.

So have a think, and if you're an IRMS member you can also read some of the previous submissions in the IRMS Library.

How to enter:

Please email a copy of your entry, details of who you are and your course (if you are on one) via email to awards@irms.org.uk before 31 January 2025.

Once entered, our judging panel will review your entries and decide on a winner. We aim to let people know as soon as possible after the 31st but this depends on diaries.

Past winners:

Why not find some of our past winners and runners-up on social media - or if you're an IRMS member, contact them via SocialLink - and ask about their experiences or perspective?

The Judging Panel:

Scott Sammons:

Scott is the current patron of the NPA having been a winner himself in 2012. Scott is now a experienced professional in the information profession and owns his own consulting firm Lighthouse IG. Scott has also been a volunteer for the Society, getting so far as to be Chair in 2016-20, proving that any NPA can reach any heights!

You can find more information on Scott on his LinkedIn page.

David Reeve:

David says in his words;

"The future of our profession is in the new generation of professionals so I'm delighted to be able to support Alison with this prestigious award." 

You can find David on LinkedIn. 

A little history about Alison North & the NPA:

Alison started her information management life in the oil and gas industry in Scotland where she became the first woman to work on a North Sea oil platform developing file management systems for the teams offshore.

Alison is a successful international businesswoman having founded and managed her company since 1986. She is a futurist and is constantly searching for better ways to manage information with integrity and value. She provides many of her services free of charge to small businesses and information professionals.

Alison is author of many papers and articles including the well-received book “Managing Records Retention and Disposal” (2009). She was honoured by the Information and Records Management Society in 2010 with a Lifetime Achievement Award and appointed a Fellow in 2013.

In 2016, Alison delivered a TED Talk on Information. Whilst we may believe that we have “too much information”, much of it is irrelevant and hides that which has the ability to deliver a better world. You can find the talk on YouTube and you can find Alison on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Alison founded the NPA in 2010 and has been its Patron ever since. Since 2010 there have been a total of 26 New Professional Award winners, including runners-up and joint winners! And including some names that have become well known in our industry like Katherine O’Keeffe, Hannah Burling, Scott Sammons, Jaana Pinnick, Claire Archibald plus loads more!