Championing speaking excellence: The Speaker Awards announces 2025 winners

In a world increasingly defined by rapid change and global connectivity, the power of individual voices has never been more crucial. Now more than ever, the world needs impactful communicators who can galvanise audiences, turning ideas into action and conversations into change.

The Speaker Awards is driving this movement, founded to celebrate the excellence of impactful speakers and give a well-deserved standing ovation to those sharing their stories and expertise worldwide. Concluding this year’s application, judging and shortlisting process, the winners of The Speaker Awards 2025 were eagerly announced on Friday 11th July at the Holiday Inn London - Kensington High St. to a room of the very best in the professional speaking industry.

Now in its fourth year, The Speaker Awards saw the highest number of entries on record from over 20 countries, representing an incredible array of speakers from diverse backgrounds, experiences and specialisms. This was the strongest field in the history of the awards, with often very small margins separating entrants.

Entries were expertly evaluated by an impressive line-up of world-class judges, including leading speaker bookers, trainers and media personalities. Within the submissions, the judges assessed integral elements including content, delivery and bookability.

The winners of The Speaker Awards 2025 were:

Best Newcomer 2025 - Alex Atherton

Best Virtual Speaker 2025 - Jim Steele

Best AI & Future Technology Speaker 2025 - Kate Ancketill

Best Speaker Showreel 2025 - Bonita Norris

Best TEDx Speaker 2025 - Nicola S. Morgan

Best Thought Leadership Speaker 2025 - Bruce Whitfield

Best Storyteller 2025 - Adele Bates

Best Live Speaker 2025 - Jim Steele

Bookers Choice 2025 - Emma Henderson

Speaker of the Year 2025 - Jim Steele

Lifetime Achievement Award 2025 - Jeremy Lee

Speaker of the Year 2025 is carefully selected from the category winners with Jim Steele receiving this illustrious accolade, after scooping both Best Virtual Speaker and Best Live Speaker earlier in the evening. Jim, founder of Holistic Performance Lab and a renowned catalyst in the field of transformation behavioural change, is sought after by organisations globally for his expertise in integrating human performance with empowered wellbeing, particularly for business leaders and high-potential teams

The event also hailed Jeremy Lee, founder of industry-acclaimed JLA Speaker Bureau, as this year’s winner of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. Over an illustrious career spanning 30+ years, Jeremy created a world class network of experts on everything from AI to behavioural economics. He also represented presenters and politicians from across the spectrum – including Boris Johnson.

“Each year, The Speaker Awards gets stronger and stronger. The quality of applications we received this year was staggering, with entries from so many inspiring speakers around the world. It was a comforting reminder that The Speaker Awards has never just been about the stage; it’s about creating a platform for real voices, honest leadership, and shared growth,” says Elliot Kay, CEO and one of the co-founders of The Speaker Awards and The Speaker Summit.

“We’d like to congratulate everyone who entered the awards this year. They are all winners in my eyes and should be extremely proud of the impact they are making on audiences across the globe. The plans for The Speaker Awards and Summit 2026 are already in motion, so watch this space!” Kay adds.

For more information, please visit: https://thespeakersawards.com/