Julie Britt - Best Secretary of the Year
Winner announced as ‘unsung heroes’ of business are recognised
Julie, who says she was stunned to even be entered into the competition, let alone be shortlisted and go on to eventually win the competition, wins a Sony Vaio Laptop plus Microsoft Office 2007 Professional from PC World Business North Shields, plus an 'Office 2007...Fast' course from Pitman Training Newcastle, organisers of the competition.
On winning last night, she added: “I’m in shock! It’s such a thrill to be recognised to be doing a good job. I have to thank all the team at NaREC as they make it a great place to work. They make it a pleasure to want to go that extra mile for them. This really is an award for everyone who has supported me there.”
Chief executive at NaREC, Andrew Mill said of Julie: “She really is the anchor for the entire executive team as well as myself. I know the role of PA here is a challenging one and certainly not straightforward. This makes Julie's achievements and performance that much more meaningful. We’re all thrilled she’s been recognized in this way.”
The inaugural event has been organised by Newcastle-based office skills and IT training organisation, Pitman Training Newcastle, and won the backing of a range of sponsors, including Reed PA & Secretarial, PC World Business North Shields, Planet, Prontaprint and MaImaison.
Julie beat off stiff competition from secretaries and PAs from some of the biggest companies across the North East. Runner up last night was named as Emma Gent, PA to the corporate finance partner at UNW LLP. Second runner up was Ila Wilkinson, PA to the Strategic Director of Community Services at North Tyneside Council.
Director of Pitman Training Newcastle, David Stevens said: “Julie is a fine and worthy winner and clearly an invaluable member of the team at NaREC. “These awards are to celebrate the real unsung heroes of North East business success. Any business owner or manager will tell you how vital a cog the PA or secretary role is in their business performance and the judging has been really tough.
“These awards are a chance to celebrate that contribution and recognise those that are the best of the best in their chosen profession. It was a fantastic evening.”
Such has been the response from companies throughout Tyneside that David Stevens from Pitman says the competition will definitely be held again next year, but will be even bigger and better.
He added: “It seems lots of businesses in the North East share our view that secretaries and PAs deserve much more credit than they get, so we hope we’ll have a number of new categories for next year’s competition.”
For information on career opportunities at NaREC visit our careers pages
