Insight into Judging the National Rail Awards

The National Rail Awards (NRA), often referred to as the ‘Railway Oscars’, celebrate railway excellence across the industry. Following the success of the Young Rail Professionals joining the NRA judging panel in 2017/18, we were delighted RAIL magazine continued this programme for 2020.

For the 2020 judging season, following an extensive selection process, the National Rail Awards welcomed three new YRP members to join the judging panels: Adam Webster, Rebecca Radford and Michael Chung. Joining existing YRP judges Paul Case, Katherine Howatson and Ninarita Williams. A few words from Michael Chung on his virtual experience for judging this year's awards held on 17 September.

As an Electrical Engineer in the infrastructure sector of the industry for just over 5 years, it has been a privilege to work alongside my fellow judges in the Customer Service Excellence category in this year’s NRA, whom are all well respected, experienced railway professionals. It was wonderful to read through all the excellent entries in my category, showcasing the different initiatives my customer-facing colleagues take every day to make the journeys for millions of commuters and leisure travellers alike as stress free as possible, in particular, those with mobility and invisible disabilities. Although this year’s judging process was carried out virtually, I was grateful that my “younger” perspectives were valued and appreciated by my colleagues throughout the different sessions and I had much to learn from their experiences too! Like many in the industry, I enjoyed the virtual awards ceremony very much, however I do hope next year’s awards will be back in person, when I can work with all the judges again and celebrate the brilliant work that we all do as an industry!

Since 2017, the YRP judges have been included on the NRA judging panels, often presenting different ideas which provide fresh perspectives and I feel increasing our representation has been an exciting prospect for Awards. For us, it has been a valuable experience that will help us in our careers in rail, but also brought further collaboration and networking opportunities.