QEST Award for Excellence
Sponsored by Thomas Fattorini Ltd
The QEST Award for Excellence is awarded annually to a QEST Scholar who has made an outstanding contribution to their craft and the sector, whilst demonstrating their commitment to training and passing on skills to the next generation. The winner is presented with an engraved medal and £1,000 prize.
Tom Fattorini explains:
When we were granted our Royal Warrant of Appointment to HM The Queen as Manufacturer of Insignia, Honours and Awards in 2008 I learnt about QEST and understood, as in my own trade, the supreme importance of people and their skills. I saw that we needed to encourage and preserve these amazing skills for the future and celebrate those that have given their lives to their craft and who are also passing on their valuable experience to new generations. Thus, the QEST Award for Excellence was born, which we are proud to support.
2026 Winner: Kate Holland
QEST Penhaligon's Scholar - Bookbinding
Bookbinder and 2023 QEST Penhaligon's Scholar Kate Holland is the 14th recipient of the QEST Award for Excellence, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to craft and her dedication to nurturing the next generation.
Kate specialises in contemporary fine bindings to commission or for exhibition. She uses traditional materials and techniques to produce a unique, modern binding that reflects the text, illustrations and typeface of the book.
A Fellow of Designer Bookbinders, she has books in the Library of the Human Imagination as well as the V&A, British, Bodleian and Yale University Libraries and many public and private collections internationally. She is a regular binder to The Booker Prize.
Previous Winners
2025: Rauni Higson MBE - 2019 QEST Scholar - Silversmithing
2024: Kayo Saito - 2016 QEST Scholar - Jewellery
2023: Eleanor Lakelin - 2018 QEST Turners’ Company Scholar - Woodturning & Sculpture
2022: Charlotte De Syllas - 1999 QEST Scholar - Jewellery
2021:Â Annemarie O'Sullivan - 2016 QEST D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Scholar - Basketmaking
2020: Andrian Melka - 2008 QEST Scholar - Sculpture & Stone Carving
2019: Rod Kelly - 2000 QEST Scholar - Goldsmithing & Silversmithing
2018: Deborah Carré - 1997 QEST Scholar - Shoemaking
2017: Bob Johnston - 2004 QEST Scholar - Basketmaking & Willow Sculpture
2016: Franki Brewer & Juliet Bailey - 2013 QEST Scholars - Woven Textile Design & Weaving
2015: Joey Richardson - 2012 QEST Carpenters' Company Scholar - Woodturning & Glass Artistry
2014: Shem Mackey - 1998 QEST Scholar - Luthiery
2013: Mel Howse - 2008 QEST Scholar - Vitreous Art