Connectr Awards 2026

What are the Connectr Awards?

The Connectr Awards celebrate the people and teams doing something brilliant in early careers and talent acquisition. Not the biggest budgets or the loudest campaigns - but the advocates, mentors, platform managers and teams who've changed what it feels like to be a candidate, a new starter, or a young person figuring out their next step.

Now in their second year, the awards recognise the Connectr community: the employers using our platform to build better hiring experiences, and the individuals within those organisations who go above and beyond every day to make those experiences real.

The categories

This year's awards span eight categories across individual and team awards.

Advocate of the Year recognises a person who goes above and beyond to support and inspire candidates through a Connectr platform. Someone who makes the employer brand feel real through honest, human conversations.

Mentor of the Year recognises a mentor or buddy who has made a genuine, lasting investment in the people they've supported - going deeper than quick answers to build real confidence and trust.

Early Careers Champion celebrates the person who builds connections with young people from within their organisation. School visits, career sessions, policy work, mentoring - the champion who shows what early careers advocacy looks like when it's done with conviction.

Platform Manager of the Year recognises the individual responsible for building and running a Connectr platform who has shown outstanding ownership, creativity and impact.

Candidate Experience Excellence is a team award for the employer who has created the most engaging, informative and fair candidate experience on Connectr - with evidence of real impact on pipelines and people.

Pre-boarding Excellence recognises the team that has done the most to keep new starters connected, confident and excited between offer and day one.

IntentSignals® Excellence celebrates the team that has made the most effective use of Connectr's IntentSignals® product - building a self-filtering talent pipeline that improves hiring outcomes responsibly and fairly.

Best Use of Connectr goes to the team with the most wide-reaching impact and strategic use of Connectr across their talent strategy.

Then there is the Connectr's Choice Award a special bonus category, chosen by the Connectr team for the organisation that has shown the most innovative thinking, the strongest spirit of collaboration, and a commitment to making their platform the best it can be.

Meet the judges

This year's judging panel brings together expertise from across talent acquisition, early careers, inclusion and volume hiring.

Robin Morle is Head of Talent Acquisition at Culina Group, where he leads high-volume hiring and pipeline strategy. Robin brings a sharp commercial lens to the judging panel and a deep understanding of what great talent acquisition looks like at scale.

Tricia Lucas-Clarke is Early Careers Inclusion Recruitment Manager at GSK. Tricia is a passionate advocate for fair access to opportunity and has spent her career making early careers more equitable and more human. She also knows Connectr from the inside, having used the platform to build GSK's own early talent community.

Lesley Hoile is an experienced HR leader with 27 years in organisations across IT, Telecoms, Pharmaceuticals and Defence. She focuses on helping organisations unlock their potential through leadership development, culture transformation, employee engagement and talent strategy.

Alex Norman is a Business Psychologist who leads the recruitment assessment strategy across all roles at British Airways. Prior to joining BA, he shaped assessment strategies across public sector organisations and large customer-facing private sector businesses.

Talia King, Managing Director of Connectr

🏆 The finalists

We're proud to announce the nominees for the 2026 Connectr Awards. Congratulations to everyone who made the shortlist.

Mentors, Advocates & Champions

Edward Hixson Senior GIS Analyst | Mentor of the Year

Eileen Cheng Senior Process Engineer | Mentor of the Year

Alessandro Minaudo Geotechnical Engineer | Early Careers Champion

Ellie Mayall Senior Associate | Early Careers Champion

Emmanuel Oyedeji Senior AI Engineer | Early Careers Champion

Karishma Kumari Engineering Supply Chain Apprentice | Advocate of the Year

Saatvik Bhagi Graduate Civil Engineer | Advocate of the Year

Yusaf Mahmood Associate – DTI | Mentor of the Year

Platform Manager of the Year

Nikki Cummins Early Careers Advisor at Costain

Tricia Lucas-Clarke Early Careers Inclusion Lead at GSK

Holly Marsh Recruitment Manager - Early Careers at Skanska

Kerry George Future Talent Delivery Lead at Thales

Sam Higgins Emerging Talent Student Outreach Manager at British Airways

Amanda Saker Early Careers Outreach Advisor at BDO

Candidate Experience Excellence

Cognizant

British Airways

Pre-boarding Excellence

Cisco

Costain

Skanska

IntentSignals® Excellence

British Airways

Kingfisher Group

GSK

Best Use of Connectr

Skanska

Howden

Costain

Check back after the 12th November for the list of winners!

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