A decade of championing the driver training profession has been recognised with another major industry honour.

Intelligent Instructor is named a Winner at the 2026 IMTD Awards.

The award follows a similar award for II back in 2019.

A big year

There can be few better ways to celebrate 10 years of Intelligent Instructor than with another award from the people at the heart of driver training.

Intelligent Instructor has been named a Winner at the 2026 Institute of Master Tutors of Driving (IMTD) Awards, receiving recognition for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Driver Training and Road Safety’.

And, fittingly, it comes in the same year that Intelligent Instructor celebrates its 10th anniversary.

Since launching in 2015, Intelligent Instructor has grown from a magazine into a multi-platform media, events and awards business dedicated to supporting and championing the UK’s driving instructor community.

Its mission has remained straightforward: help instructors become better trainers, run more successful businesses and ultimately contribute to safer roads.

Momentum and momentum

The IMTD judging panel unanimously agreed that Intelligent Instructor deserved the 2026 award, recognising its decade-long role in shaping, supporting and elevating the driver training industry.

For the team behind Intelligent Instructor, this is particularly special, as it is not the first time the organisation has received recognition from the IMTD.

Back in 2019, Intelligent Instructor Magazine also won at the IMTD Annual Awards for its contribution to improving road safety and driver training.

It means the 2026 award represents a second recognition from the industry’s eminent professional body, a decade after Intelligent Instructor’s launch.

Richard Storrs, Founder of Intelligent Instructor, said: “Winning this award means a huge amount, especially in our 10th anniversary year. It’s recognition of everything the team has built over the last decade, and, more importantly, of the difference we’ve been able to make for instructors and for road safety across the UK.

“Thank you to the IMTD and to everyone in the industry who has supported us along the way.”

Magazine movement

A lot has changed since 2015.

What began as a publication has developed into a platform encompassing daily online news and features, professional resources, industry campaigns, the Intelligent Instructor Awards, major conferences and events, and a growing network connecting instructors, suppliers, trainers and organisations across the sector.

The Intelligent Instructor Awards, launched in 2019, have become the most significant annual celebration of excellence across the profession, recognising everyone from individual instructors and driving schools to vehicle suppliers, insurers, technology providers and other organisations supporting driver training.

The National Conference and Expo has become another major fixture on the industry calendar.

In 2025, more than 1,785 ADIs and PDIs attended, describing it as the largest gathering of ADIs and PDIs ever seen in the UK.

The 2026 event brings together 70-plus exhibitors, expert speakers, training sessions, a dedicated PDI Zone and an Innovation Zone covering subjects ranging from AI and technology to road safety and business development.

Recognition 

That development makes the IMTD award particularly significant, coming from a body that represents the pinnacle of the driver training profession.

The IMTD Awards exist specifically to recognise achievements and contributions to driver training and road safety, with categories covering new initiatives, long-term programmes, sustainable good practice, individual excellence and outstanding contributions over time.

It highlights the increasingly important role of communication in road safety, the essential part that driver trainers play in producing safer drivers and safer roads, and how Intelligent Instructor has been integral to informing, motivating, and rewarding the industry.

Good driver training depends on good instructors, but instructors also need access to accurate information, continuing professional development, new ideas, technology, business support and an understanding of where the industry is heading.

That is where Intelligent Instructor has sought to make its contribution.

From changes to the driving test and DVSA policy to new vehicle technology, road safety research, teaching techniques, business advice, and the challenges facing today’s instructors, the aim has been to give the profession a voice – while helping instructors keep pace with an industry that has changed dramatically over the past 10 years.

For all of us

The 2026 IMTD recognition therefore provides a fitting bookend to a decade of development.

The first IMTD recognition came in 2019, when Intelligent Instructor Magazine was among the recipients of the Annual Awards.

Seven years later, as Intelligent Instructor celebrates 10 years, the organisation itself has been recognised for its ‘Outstanding Contribution to Driver Training and Road Safety’.

For the team, and importantly, for the thousands of instructors, PDIs, trainers and industry partners who have helped build the Intelligent Instructor community, there could hardly be a more appropriate anniversary present.

Ten years in, and still driving the conversation.