UK IT Industry Awards 2026: And the winners are...

Defra, HMRC and the Bank of England led a strong public sector showing – but the private sector, charities and individuals had plenty to cheer as well

The UK IT Industry Awards 2026 celebrated the very best of the country's IT profession at a black-tie ceremony at Evolution London in Battersea Park last night.

This year's event - organised by Computing in association with BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT – was hosted by Rob Rinder and returned for its 16th year. More than 900 technology leaders gathered for a three-course dinner, live entertainment and – of course – the after-party with music, games and dodgems, while supporting this year's charity partner, The Childhood Trust.

This year's awards introduced two new categories: Chartered Technology Professional of the Year and Learning Provider or Initiative of the Year, alongside the familiar mix of project, technology, organisation and individual honours. Judged by independent IT leaders, the winners join an exclusive club of industry excellence.

The public sector had a strong night. Defra took home two awards, while the Bank of England and HMRC claimed three of the individual honours.

But it wasn't all about government agencies and organisations. Here are all the winners:

Project excellence

Charity (Third Sector) Project of the Year
Winner: GS1 UK
Highly commended: MOAT

Digital Transformation Project of the Year (Large End User Group)
Winner: Defra - The Border Trade Matching Service
Highly commended: HMRC - VAT Mainframe Closure

Digital Transformation Project of the Year (Small/Medium End User Group)
Winner: ANS - Becoming our own Customer Zero to drive responsible AI adoption

Public Sector Project of the Year
Winner: Social Security Scotland & IBM Consulting - The Programme
Highly commended: HMRC - VAT Mainframe Closure

Best Applied AI Project of the Year
Winner: Evri & Robiquity
Highly commended: Eleclink – AMAI (Advanced Monitoring and Asset Intelligence): AI-Powered Cable Inspection for the Channel Tunnel Interconnector

Technology Refresh Project of the Year
Winner: HMRC - VAT Mainframe Closure

Technology excellence

AI Innovation of the Year (Enterprise)
Winner: The Access Group

AI Innovation of the Year (SME)
Winner: Xiatech
Highly commended: Darktrace

Security Innovation of the Year
Winner: Darktrace
Highly commended: OPSWAT

Cloud Technology of the Year
Winner: Nationwide Building Society
Highly commended: Nationwide Building Society (Cloud Hosting Team)

Special award: Sustainable Innovation of the Year
Winner: Triad Group Plc - The Clean Heat Market Mechanism

Organisational excellence

Services Company of the Year (Enterprise)
Winner: Intercity
Highly commended: 2i

Services Company of the Year (SME)
Winner: Onefile

Best Place to Work
Winner: HM Land Registry – Transformation and Technology

Corporate Social Responsibility Award
Winner: Defra
Highly commended: Content Guru

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award
Winner: The Access Group

Learning Provider or Initiative of the Year
Winner: Code First Girls

Project Team of the Year (Enterprise)
Winner: Heathrow Airport

Project Team of the Year (SME)
Winner: Zenitech

Development Team of the Year
Winner: Aker Systems – supporting UK police & law enforcement with next gen National Strategic ANPR Platform

Team of the Year
Winner: Bridewell - Cyber Security Team

Vendor of the Year
Winner: Dext

Personal excellence

Engineer of the Year
Winner: Joseph Goulding – Arup

Inspirational Individual of the Year
Winner: Carolyn Caudwell - Bank of England
Highly commended: Ikenna Umeh - BT Group

Business Analyst of the Year
Winner: Emma Myers - Bank of England

Chartered Technology Professional of the Year
Winner: Charles Ewen - Met Office

Apprentice of the Year
Winner: Habiba Noor - Bank of England
Highly commended: Adebusiola Ola-Adebomi - PA Consulting

Rising Star of the Year
Winner: Aurelia Brzezowska - University of Staffordshire

IT Leader of the Year
Winner: Kate Platonova - Shell

Congratulations to all of this year's winners and highly commended entrants, and thank you to everyone who entered, judged, sponsored and joined us in Battersea.

For more about the UK IT Industry Awards, including photos of the night, visit the event website.