Our take on the British Data Awards 2025

The British Data Awards 2025, organised by Predatech, delivered exactly what we’d been looking forward to for months. It brought together an incredible crowd of 660 people who represent the finest data talent the UK has to offer. Not bad for a Thursday night in London.

With the highest number of applications ever, 448 to be exact, it was a hefty challenge for the judges to whittle it down. From FTSE 100 giants right down to scrappy start-ups, everyone was holding on to their seats when nominations got announced.

‍

As our founder and CEO Greg Freeman put it on the night: "The success stories showcased expertly demonstrated how data is transforming the ways we live, work and connect."

And as Data Literacy Academy was the Headline Sponsor this year, Greg had the honour of delivering a relatable and humorous opening speech which got everyone in the right celebratory mood.

A spotlight on the winners

While everyone was a deserving winner, we wanted to highlight some standouts that had us cheering from our seats:

While we were beyond proud to become a finalist for SME of the Year just one year after winning Startup of the Year, it was the Smith Institute who snagged the final award. A heartfelt congratulations to everyone on the team.

Lloyds Banking Group took home Education Initiative of the Year as well as Financial Services Company of the Year. And frankly, we're not surprised. Their Data Summer School is a leading example of how to achieve an industry-leading programme that works at scale.

We loved seeing Professor Victor Chang from Aston University being celebrated as Data Leader of the Year (In-House). While working with Aston University over the past years, we see the significant impact their data team has been driving up close and couldn’t agree more with this choice.

Data for Good Initiative of the Year is always a favourite category, and we had the honour of presenting this award ourselves. It seemed like the judges just couldn’t make a choice, so Dogs Trust and West Yorkshire Police walked away with a shiny award. Once again, being involved with West Yorkshire Police we see the incredible community-focused work their data has been driving, and we’re excited they received this recognition.

And finally, while our very own Greg Freeman didn’t walk away as a winner for Data Leader of the Year (Partner), he got a Highly Commended recommendation, a warm nod to the hard work delivered over the past year which he’s grateful to receive.

Check out the full list of winners here.

We're already looking ahead to 2026 (yes, really, we don't hang about), but for now, we're just enjoying the afterglow of a properly brilliant night. The UK's data community showed up, showed off, and showed everyone how it's done.

If you were there, thank you for making it such a memorable evening. If you weren't, well, you know where to find us next year.

Want to make sure your team's ready to be at next year's awards? Get in touch about our practical, in-person data literacy training. Because every great data story starts with people who know what they're doing.

‍