2022 National Pest Awards “Young Pest Controller of The Year” – Gemma Sutherland

At Pest Solutions we could not be more proud of our entire team. But it is a privilege to be able to celebrate our Graduate Service Technician Gemma Sutherland in being crowned winner of the 2022 National Pest Awards “Young Pest Controller of The Year”.

We are delighted to see Gemma achieve this well deserved recognition as she is a fantastic example of a young pest professional who is focussed on being her best and delivering customer service excellence every day.

At Pest Solutions we know we have an excellent team and it was great to also see fellow Graduate Service Technician, Chloe Smith also nominated alongside Gemma as the second of 3 finalists in this prestigious UK pest control industry award.

In addition we were also fortunate to see Pest Solutions High Care Technician, Stefan Polatajko, nominated as finalist in the “Pest Controller of the Year” category. A recognition that he can be very proud of.

I say we are fortunate to see these colleagues recognised in these UK industry awards. This is said not out of surprise that these individuals have been recognised for their great work. In this I am not surprised, we believe we have a great team, full of some of the best people in the UK pest control industry. But, we are fortunate to have such a great team, full of true pest professionals who have helped to build the Pest Solutions company culture of striving to be their best, working hard to learn more and become better every day as pest control professionals.

As the managing director of Pest Solutions, it is a privilege that I am fortunate enough to have to lead such a team.

Gemma, Chloe & Stefan have done a great job not just in following in the footsteps of Gabrielle Hogg & Kevin Pugh’s winning ways last year, but they have continued the culture of inspiring the excellent team members who are coming up behind them.

Congratulations To Award Winner Gemma Sutherland

In response to her win, Gemma Sutherland, Graduate Service Technician at Pest Solutions and Winner of the 2022 National Pest Awards “Young Pest Controller of the Year” Award, said:

“I feel really proud to have won 2022 “Young Pest Controller of the Year” award. Having joined the pest control industry just over 18 months ago I feel I have had the opportunity to learn so much and develop as a professional pest controller.

It has been an honour to be nominated alongside colleague Chloe Smith, and for the professionalism that we try so hard to demonstrate every day to our customers to be recognised industry wide.

I hope that this recognition for my hard work can inspire others to strive for professionalism. Also, that as young women in a male dominated industry that myself, Chloe and the rest of our female team members at Pest Solutions can be an example that will encourage other young people and more women to consider a rewarding career in the pest control industry.

I would like to add a big thank you to Bayer for supporting the development of young pest professionals by sponsoring this award and for hosting us at their table on the night.”

Following The Example Of Gemma, Chloe & Stefan

Pest Solutions Managing Director and BPCA President, Chris Cagienard said:

“Gemma Sutherland is an exceptional pest controller. As a Zoology Graduate entering the industry a mere 18 months ago she has really taken to the industry. I know she would tell me that she needs to learn more or that that there is so much she doesn’t yet know. But, when I look at the pest professional that she has become in such a short period of time it is hard not to think I am speaking to someone with ten years or more experience.

Gemma, Chloe, William, Natasha and many of our young pest controllers are just so much better than I was at their age. It is a privilege to have then in our team and we look forwards to seeing what they will achieve as their careers continue to develop.

A massive congratulations to Gemma Sutherland not just on winning but on being good enough to beat Chloe Smith. I jest, but it was great to see how supportive of each other Chloe, Gemma and Stefan were in the run up to the awards event.

In the same way Kevin & Gabrielle inspired them, they are an inspiration to their colleagues.
With many great young pest controllers following in their path we are spoilt for who we hope to see nominated in 2023. With Chloe, Natasha, William, Iain, Rebekah, Coral, and Clara showing great passion and potential it will be hard to separate them. Makes me glad not to be a judge.”

Thanks To Bayer For Supporting Young Pest Controllers

At Pest Solutions we could not be more grateful to the team at Bayer Environmental Science UK for their ongoing commitment to supporting the development of young pest professionals.

Bayer support the industry not just in making great products to help fill the toolkit of professional pest controllers but they are also champions of attracting and developing young people in the pest control industry.

Via their ongoing sponsorship of the National Pest Awards “Young Pest Controller of The Year” category and due to Gabrielle Hogg winning the award in 2021 we were able to see Pest Solutions partner with Bayer to promote professional pest control on 2022 International Women’s Day in March and 2022 Youth Skills Day in July.

We are grateful for their ongoing support beyond sponsorship of the awards and would like to thank Tim and the team at Bayer for their further support of £500 towards training for the three finalists in this year’s awards. Thanks for your generous support. I hope it will encourage more young pest controllers to enter the awards next year.

Tim Peeling, Head of Marketing UK & Ireland at Bayer said:

“Bayer are extremely happy to sponsor the “Young Pest Controller of the Year”, a partnership that fits so well with the ethos of our company. It’s important for us that we take the sponsorship further, it’s not just one night for us. We have stayed in contact with the previous finalists and want create a community and further support them as they progress in their career.

As Envu (Bayer Environmental Science UK will soon rebrand as Envu) we will continue with the sponsorship and industry support, it’s a great opportunity for us to work with our end users.”

2022 National Pest Awards Winners & Finalists Announced

The 2022 National Pest Awards dinner was held at the Hilton Bankside in London on the 8th of September 2022. The event was a great opportunity to bring the UK pest control industry together after last years event was restricted in size due to Covid precautions.

The awards dinner was a great opportunity for the entire industry to come together to celebrate professionalism and excellence. The event hosted by Ian Moore was a great success and participation was at an all time high with more nominations received than in any previous year.

At Pest Solutions we were proud to emulate our success of the 2021 awards being nominated as finalists in 3 categories again. Large Company of the Year, Pest Controller of the Year and Young Pest Controller of the Year. This year we were delighted to have 2 of the 3 finalists in the Young Pest Controller of the Year category.

A significant part of our business plan at Pest Solutions is to deliver customer service excellence and continue to invest in all or our team members to ensure that we can to a great job for our customers every time. For that reason to be included as finalists in the National Pest Awards is great recognition that we are doing something right. To be represented in 3 categories again this year was validation that we are maintaining these standards.

Congratulations To All Of The National Pest Awards Winners

2022 “Young Pest Controller of the Year”

We are proud to have seen Gemma Sutherland win the 2022 “Young Pest Controller of the Year” award retaining the award that Pest Solutions own Gabrielle Hogg won in 2022. We are also exceptionally proud team members Chloe Smith who was also a finalist and Natasha Mackay who we were delighted to nominate for her hard work and customer service excellence.

Investing in the next generation of pest professionals who will become tomorrows leaders in the industry is important to Pest Solutions and is something we look forwards to continuing to champion.

2022 “Pest Controller of the Year”

We were proud to have been nominated finalists in the 2022 “Pest Controller of the Year” category with Stefan Polatajko after winning this category in 2021. A great and well deserved achievement for Stefan.

But these awards are only worth winning when you are up against strong competition. For that reason we are delighted to join Stefan in congratulating James Wood of Beaver Pest Control for winning Pest Controller of the Year. A great achievement to be finalist in 2021 and winner in 2022.

2022 “Large Company of the Year” & “Pest Business of the Year”

We know that when we saw that we were nominated as finalists in the “Large Company of the Year” that we were joined as finalist by our friends at Beaver Pest Control that we were up against strong competition.

We were rooting for the team at Beaver last year when they were also finalists but did not win. This year if we were to loose out to anyone it would be Beaver we would be happy to lose to. A massive congratulations to Graham, David, Julia and the rest of the team at Beaver for not only winning the Large Company award but also winning the overall “Pest Business of the Year” Award.

Well done to all of the other winners and finalists.

It is great we can all work hard to inspire each other forwards.

Let’s come back next year and do it all again.