Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) has announced 34 new award winners in its Worldwide Excellence Awards.

Launched in June 2016, the Awards run twice a year to celebrate the highest achievement in STEP qualifications globally.

The winners are the top achievers across STEP’s exams for the period January-July 2017.

Derek Rawlings TEP of Rawlinson & Hunter British Virgin Islands (BVI) won two awards, and was the highest scoring graduate in the STEP Diploma in International Trust Management.

Six students came joint top in their respective awards: Janine Inger of APS Legal & Associates in Yorkshire and Ruth Sadlier of Broomfield & Alexander in Bristol; Regula-Elisabeth Huber of Huber Partners AG in Zurich and Eva Silbernagl of Nautilus Trust Co Ltd in Jersey; and Ruth Henry from The Bahamas and James Haywood from London.

Anna Gray of Babbé LLP, Guernsey was the highest-scoring graduate across all four papers of the International Trust Management diploma across all jurisdictions.

“For STEP’s 2017 biannual Worldwide Excellence Awards, we are thrilled to see we have so many students of outstanding ability,” said Nigel Race, STEP’s director of professional development. “We offer our warmest congratulations to all of our graduates, and especially those who have come top in more than one award. We hope that they will enjoy all the success they deserve.”

The top students came from all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, The Bahamas, The British Virgin Islands, and Europe.