WINNING at Bolton Business Awards was a real highlight for Bolton College ­— and success keeps coming.

Bolton College won The Innovation Award for its AI virtual assistant which is on hand to help students 24/7.

Aftab Hussain, Bolton College’s ILT Manager said: “Our win at the Bolton Business Awards was a real highlight of 2018 for Bolton College; to be nominated and then go on to win was a real privilege, especially since the category we were nominated in was so strong. It was also wonderful to gain recognition for the innovative work that is being carried out in the College.

“Since the win, we have enjoyed further success ­— last month, we travelled down to London and won an AoC Beacon Award for the Ada Project. Members of the Information Learning Technology Team have also been invited to speak at conferences the length and breadth of the country.

“ This month, the Department for Education referenced the College’s work on campus chatbots and digital assistants in its newly published strategy for educational technology.

“The Secretary of State for Education, Damian Hinds MP, even name-checked Ada in a speech, calling the chatbot ‘tech at its most transformative and enabling’ and I am proud to say that our ILT Team continues to shine.’”

Ellie Entwistle won Young Person/Apprentice of the year at last year’s ceremony for her work as a Digital PR Executive at Bring Digital.

She has since gone on to become a Digital PR Manager at digital marketing agency - The Audit Lab.

Miss Entwistle said the award has “opened doors” for her.

“Since winning the award last year my career has only improved,” she said.

“I got so much recognition and praise following both the nomination and the win, I was immensely proud.

“Winning the award opened a lot of doors for me in my career and I’m now Digital PR Manager at The Audit Lab a Digital Marketing agency in Bolton and freelancing in my spare time, this award gave me such a huge confidence boost in my career and I highly recommend other business to put their young people forward for this type of award.”

To enter the Business Awards go to theboltonnews.co.uk/business-awards