Composites UK announces 2022 industry award winners

At its Industry Awards Dinner on Nov. 2, Composites UK (Berkhamsted), the trade association for the U.K. composites industry, announced the winners of its 2022 awards. The event took place at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, U.K., coinciding with the Advanced Engineering Show (AES).

The attendees witnessed the following companies take home an award:

• Apprentice of the Year: Britoni Farrer-Williams, McLaren F1
  • Runner up: Jasmine Moore, Fluency
• Employer of the Year: Cristex Composite Materials
  • Runner up: Prodrive Composites
• Social Impact Award: Leybold UK Ltd. (more on the announcement)
  • Runner up: Fluency
• Sustainability Award | Circularity: Lineat Composites
  • Runner up: Prodrive Composites
• Sustainability Award | Net-Zero: Composite Braiding (more on the announcement)
  • Runner up: Jo Bird and Co.
• Innovation in Composite Design: Ford Motor Co.
  • Runner up: iCOMAT
• Innovation in Composite Materials: Cygnet Texkimp/B&M Longworth/NCC (more on the announcement)
  • Runner up: Lineat Composites
• Innovation in Composite Manufacture: Composite Integration (more on the announcement)
  • Runner up: Taziker
  • Runner up: Zund UK

The 2022 Outstanding Contribution to the Composites Industry Award was awarded to Professor Michael Wisnom. Wisnom has made a large impact in the international composites arena across his career, according to Composites UK. In the education sector, he has taught cohort after cohort of the next generation of composites engineers and his work at the University of Bristol where he set up the Bristol Composites Institute (formerly known as ACCIS), has developed it into a well-recognized organization. Wisnom has also been a strong voice in the U.K.’s composites research groups, bringing together academics from all of the U.K. and further afield to drive forward research.

“In a stellar career Prof. Michael Wisnom has been an instrumental part of the U.K.’s and the international composites eco system,” Jools Granville, director of marketing and communications at the National Composites Centre (NCC), says. “In the year that he steps down as director of the Bristol Composites Institute we wanted to nominate him for Outstanding Contribution to Composites based on his career that spans decades. We are over the moon that he has been announced as the winner.”

Special recognition within this category has been awarded to PRF Composite Material’s Robert Burnell.

All of the companies shortlisted receive a commemorative plaque, international press coverage, a case study published on the Composites UK website and social media, details about the company/entry sent out to the Composites UK database and the opportunity to produce a video for the association’s YouTube.

In addition, the winners receive a physical award and the option to host one of the association’s online member meets where they will get to talk about their business in front of other Composites UK members.

“I would like to thank everyone involved in making this event a success but in particular our master of ceremonies and chairman, Alan Banks of Ford Motor Co. and our sponsors — Zund UK, Pegbox Technical Recruitment, Minden Dust Extraction Systems, Briar, Far-UK and Rockwood Composites — for supporting this event,” Claire Whysall, marketing and communications manager at Composites UK, says. “We couldn’t do it without them.”

For more details about the award winners and shortlisted entries click here.