The winners of the 2023 British Coatings Federation (BCF) Awards were announced on Oct. 19, 2023 at The Grand Hotel in Birmingham. More than 200 delegates attended the biggest-ever event in the 13 years of running the awards.

The highlight of the evening was celebrating the amazing young talent coming through in the sector, recognised in the Apprentice of the Year Award, won by Sean Kelly from Anstey Wallpaper Company; Young Leader of the Year Award, won by Molly Kershaw from PPG Architectural Coatings; and Student of the Year Award, which saw Courtney Turner from Tor Coatings win.

Recognizing investment in people, Sherwin-Williams was awarded the Diversity and Inclusion Award, followed by HMG Paints being presented as the winner of the Excellence in Training Award.

The Sustainable Innovation Multinational Award was won by Siegwerk for UniNATURE, and the Sustainable Innovation SME Award was presented to Terrafend for Ambimization. A new category for 2023 was launched, Race to Net Zero, with its first-ever win being awarded to Crown Paints.

The sustainability theme carried on through the evening with the Coatings Care Progress Award was given to winning site Becker Industrial Coatings, and Overall Best Performer was awarded to Tor Coatings. The Corporate Social Responsibility Award was taken home by PPG Architectural Coatings for its Community Engagement Programme.

The Customer Service Award was presented to AkzoNobel’s Dulux Decorator Centre. For Marketing Campaign of the Year, it was the ‘AI-generated colour range’ campaign that took home the award for HMG Paints.

In her first event as BCF president, Sharon Harte, managing director of Dacrylate Paints, commented: “It is so exciting to see so much young talent in our sector, demonstrated in our Student, Apprentice and Young Leader of the Year categories. Many congratulations to all those who were shortlisted, but especially to the winners.”

The BCF would like to thank its Award sponsors: Stort Group, BASF, The Paint Foundation, Verlingue, Synthomer, Xyntra, Fenton Packaging, Tronox, Crusader Vehicle Leasing and GDB Paint & Coatings, for their support.

BCF Award Winners 2023
• Sustainable Innovation Multinational Award 2023 – SIEGWERK – UniNATURE (Sponsored by Tronox)
• Sustainable Innovation SME Award 2023 – Terrafend – Ambimization (Sponsored by Xyntra)
• Race to Net Zero Award 2023 – Crown Paints
• Corporate Social Responsibility Award 2023 – PPG Architectural Coatings – Community Engagement Programme
• Customer Service Award 2023 – AkzoNobel, Dulux Decorator Centre – Customer Segmentation (Sponsored by Crusader Vehicle Leasing)
• Marketing Campaign of the Year Award 2023 – HMG Paints – AI-Generated Colour Range (Sponsored by GDB Paint & Coatings)
• Student of the Year Award 2023 – Courtney Turner, Tor Coatings (Sponsored by Synthomer)
• Apprentice of the Year Award 2023 – Sean Kelly, Anstey Wallpaper Company (Sponsored by Stort Group)
• Young Leader of the Year Award 2023 – Molly Kershaw, PPG Architectural Coatings (Sponsored by Fenton Packaging)
• Coatings Care Progress Award 2023 – Becker Industrial Coatings (Sponsored by The Paint Foundation)
• Coatings Care Overall Best Performer Award 2023 – Tor Coatings (Sponsored by Verlingue)