Royal Signals celebrate excellence within the Corps
- The annual Royal Signals Institution (RSI) awards were held in London on 26 January 2023.
- Nine outstanding soldiers and officers were recognised, including the rarely-presented Princess Mary Medal.
- Strong business and industry attendance celebrated these important awards.
The annual Royal Signals Institution (RSI) Awards were held at the prestigious Institute of Directors in London on 26 January 2023, hosted by Lieutenant General Sharon Nesmith, Master of Signals and attended by Lieutenant General Tom Copinger-Symes, Deputy Commander of United Kingdom Strategic Command and proponent for multi domain integration in which the Royal Signals has a key role. The RSI, now entering its eighth decade, fosters the professional well-being of the Royal Signals with partners across the Government and the technology industry.
At a Reception and Dinner for 300 security and other industry partners, awards were presented to nine soldiers and officers who have provided an outstanding service to the Corps in the last 12 months. The rarely-given Princess Mary Medal was this year awarded to Major Grant Wallace for dedicated service and advocacy of cyber skills development and opportunities across Defence, including Exercise Defence Cyber Marvel, Europe's largest cyber defence exercise and the RSI Silver Medal was presented to Corporal Alastair Hart (pictured above) for exceptional signals intelligence tradecraft on three strategic operations.
General Nesmith presented five Master of Signal Awards to: Corporal Christopher Ash for exceptional engineering leadership during the transition to Defence’s new deployable IT network; Sergeant (now Staff Sergeant) Andrew Maidment for a pivotal contribution to the development of the Army’s cyber defence capability; Staff Sergeant Katie Smith-Roberts (pictured below) for an exceptional contribution to Specific Learning Difficulties experienced by junior trainees; Warrant Officer Class Two (Yeoman of Signals) James Wilson, a STEM ambassador; and, to McBean Troop of 11th (Royal School of Signals) Signal Regiment, for revitalising morale, discipline, purpose and belonging amongst Holdover soldiers.
Unable to attend the evening, other award winners are Major David Pooley, awarded a RSI Silver Medal for engineering leadership to deliver a state-of-the-art prototype agile headquarters command post and Staff Sergeant Richard Simpson, who was awarded the Medal for Adventurous Endeavour for his pivotal contribution to the preparation, execution and recovery of a highly remote, arduous and challenging scientific Antarctic expedition – Antarctic Quest 21.
In other awards, Lieutenant Alexander Howe received The Whistler Trophy for an outstanding contribution to those under his command while the Deane-Drummond Prize was presented to Warrant Officer Class Two Carl Mansell for his investigation of how the Royal Signals can utilise augmented and virtual reality technologies. Finally, the Dinner applauded Warrant Officer Class One (Foreman of Signals) Tom Wilson for his attainment of the prestigious Churchill Medal, awarded in November 2022 by the Professional Engineering Institutions for his outstanding contribution and achievement to the field of engineering and technical advancement in developing the Army’s cyber defence and security centre.
Lieutenant General Sharon Nesmith said "Our annual awards evening is a most important occasion for me, as Master of Signals. I take great pride in our outstanding people, and in sharing their exceptional achievements with the vibrant family of our Institution."
Col Andy Percival, Director RSI said "it is a fantastic occasion and a real celebration of professional excellence shared with our industry and Defence colleagues."
