The annual EEMUA Awards acknowledge the outstanding contributions of engineers at various stages of their careers.
The EEMUA Early Years Industry Award recognises the contributions of new starters in the engineering sector, demonstrating their communication skills, engineering application and leadership in their specialism. There are two categories: one for Corporate Members, the other for Associates. We are pleased to announce that this year’s recipients are:
• Holly McGowan, Sustainability Engineer at Grain LNG
Holly's entry impressed the EEMUA Awards Committee through her self-creation of Grain LNG's first sustainability engineer role and subsequent development of their Net Zero Policy and Strategy. Her independent implementation demonstrated exceptional initiative and leadership, while her personal experience with autism helped drive meaningful diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, creating lasting impact in workplace culture.
On receiving the award, Holly said: “I’m so proud to win this great award. From nervous graduate to creating my own role as Sustainability Engineer at Grain LNG, it’s been an incredible journey. Helping drive real change on net zero, inclusion, and innovation has taught me that a bit of courage, true collaboration, and being true to yourself matters. Huge thanks to everyone who’s been there for me. This is just the beginning!”
• Sam Williamson, Storage Tank Lead at TÜV Rheinland Industrial Services
The Awards Committee felt that Sam’s leadership in establishing new inspection capabilities, combining EEMUA 159 and EEMUA 225-based services, showed outstanding technical insight, commercial awareness and an ability to convert concepts into viable income streams. Sam’s ability to connect technical rigour with client needs, while coordinating stakeholders across disciplines, demonstrated professional excellence well beyond his years.
Commenting on winning, Sam said: “Thank you so much for this award – I’m delighted to be recognised for my achievements so far and grateful for the opportunity to contribute to our field. I’d like to thank all my colleagues at TÜV Rheinland, whose support and collaboration have been essential to my development and helping me receive this award.”
In recognition of the high quality of entries to the Early Years Industry Award runner-up prizes are presented to Beth Aitken, Process Engineer at Phillips 66, and Kevin Joby, Process Engineer at TÜV Rheinland Industrial Services.
Also shortlisted for the Early Years Industry Award were Rahimah Mohammed, Graduate Engineer at BOC, and Asgar Naghili, Instrument and Control Graduate Engineer at BP. Congratulations to them for making the short list and making the judges’ decision so difficult.
EEMUA is also pleased to announce that the recipient of this year’s Stuart Turner Award is:
• Graham Sorbie, Senior Pressure Systems Engineer at SSE Thermal
The Stuart Turner Award honours the memory of Stuart Turner, an enthusiastic advocate for all things EEMUA, by recognising an employee of a member organisation who has made a significant contribution to the work of EEMUA. Graham impressed the Awards Committee with his long-standing and continued involvement across a wide range of EEMUA activities. This includes being an active member of the Pressure Relief Systems Committee since 2009 and serving as its Chair since 2023, contributing to several working groups, presenting at EEMUA events, and playing a key role in the development and updates of multiple EEMUA publications focused on pressure relieving safety systems and their safe operation.
The achievements of all the nominees and winners were celebrated at the EEMUA Annual Dinner held in Knutsford, UK, on 12 November.
The standard of entries was again very high and EEMUA would like to thank all those who took the time and effort to enter.
We look forward to seeing the entries for 2026 and will be announcing how to enter in due course.
