Judging begins for the IEMA graduate award
All nominations for the 2013 IEMA graduate award have been received and are now being reviewed by the four judges ahead of a session to select this year's winner
The award, which is sponsored by Land Securities and supported by edie.net and Sustainable Business, seeks to identify and celebrate the best talent present among those who have recently graduated and are now achieving impressive things in their first environment role.
IEMA is dedicated to promoting environment skills and talent, and this is part of its ongoing commitment to ensuring graduate practitioners are recognised.
At stake is a £1,000 prize, which is to be presented jointly by IEMA chief executive Tim Balcon and Neil Pennell, head of sustainability and engineering at Land Securities, which is sponsoring the award, on 21 November during the Edie sustainable leaders awards in London.
Past graduate award winners have come from a broad range of industries and sectors, and each demonstrated exceptional ability.
The 2013 nominations are also of a very high calibre, which presents a challenge for the judging panel (see below). Full details of the shortlist for this year’s award will be revealed online at iema.net on 21 October.
Meet the judges:
Diana Montgomery is chief executive at the Construction Products Association (CPA) and chair of the IEMA board. Before joining the CPA, Montgomery worked for the Chemical Industries Association, where she raised the profile of chemical manufacturing in the UK, helping to establish its pivotal role in the delivery of the government’s sustainability targets. She is a chartered environmentalist and has degrees from Oxford University and Imperial College.
Will Parsons is a business journalist for the past decade, Will Parsons is the managing editor of the water and environment division at the independent publisher Faversham House Group, which operates the sustainability news website edie.net. Parsons is responsible for a publication portfolio across print, online and live events in the sustainability, water, waste and energy sectors.
Neil Pennell is the head of sustainability and engineering at Land Securities. He leads an in-house team of specialist engineers and environment professionals. He is chair of the technical affairs committee at the British Council of Offices (BCO) and has contributed to a number of BCO technical publications, including the latest edition of the best practice guide to the specification of offices. Pennell is a member of the Mayor of London’s working group on energy.
Paul Suff is editor of the environmentalist. He is an experienced business journalist and has written extensively on the environment for more than 20 years. He was previously editor of the LexisNexis magazine Environment in Business. His early career was in engineering and construction, working on major projects across the UK.