A little late to the party, yesterday was a day, but on Wednesday night I had a lovely evening at the The…
Nikki W. — Cybersecurity is not just technical, it is human | Protecting people, businesses & resilience
A little late to the party, yesterday was a day, but on Wednesday night I had a lovely evening at the The National Cyber Awards finalists and judges drinks reception 2026, hosted at the IBM offices in London!
A huge thank you to our hosts for the evening, IBM, and the team there who always look after us so well, it really is such a cool building. The eclipse was an added bonus, and the rooftop was the perfect spot to watch it.
Added bonus of the night, bumping into the lovely 📌 Alan Pantling as I arrived for a quick drink, hanging out with the simply wonderful Nasser Arif, and getting to see my dear friend and very deserving nominee, Rebecca Taylor ( and yes I stole all the photos because as always I took none)
What I love about these awards is that they are truly not pay-to-play. Nominees get complimentary entry to the evening in September, no matter the size of their marketing budget. That is so rare and welcome, and it means the finalists on that stage are there on merit, not spend. The room was full of people from all over the industry who I always stand in awe at and feel a little weird being stood in amongst them, but I am always made to feel so welcome.
More awards should work like this. I am proud to be a tiny part of it, judging this year was so tough, the talent out there is simply astounding and the future is looking pretty cool because of this. Huge thank you to the head judges and a special mention to Jodie Harris for keeping us all in check during the process. Thank you and congratulations to all the nominees and I will see you all at the awards in September at the shiny new venue, where hopefully it will be just a tad cooler.
#NotPayToPlay #MeritNotMarketing #NationalCyberAwards2026
#IndustryRecognition
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Topics: #notpaytoplay, #industryrecognition, #nationalcyberawards2026, #meritnotmarketing