After a rigorous four-month process, the Global Excel Awards 2025 reached a crescendo in February when we announced the winners of five categories.
We didn't just announce them — we did so in front of a packed house at London's Soho Place Theatre as part of the Global Excel Summit 2025.
And while this second edition of the awards saw us introduce new categories and tweak the format, the overarching goal hadn’t changed: to celebrate excellence in the Excel industry.
And so we did! Thousands of you stepped forward to make your voices heard. This was an opportunity to tell us who and what most deserved recognition for educating you, inspiring you, and boosting your productivity in the last year. Our five categories encompassed all these qualities.
Moreover, as well-received as last year’s awards were, we were grateful to hear your feedback on how to make it even better, so we listened and delivered.
A notable addition this year was the introduction of a five-seat judges panel comprising Microsoft MVPs: Leila Gharani, Bill Jelen, Danielle Stein Fairhurst, Alan Murray, and Celia Alves. All are highly regarded and experienced figures in the Excel world, and their purpose was to sift through your nominations to ensure each category was as competitive as possible for the public voting stage.
So, who are our winners? And what made you vote for them? Let’s find out…
Rising Star in the Excel Industry
Susana Pinto
‘Excelfluencers’ are here, there, and everywhere these days, so standing out from the crowd is harder than ever.
However, it isn’t always the biggest social media vanity metrics that make someone memorable. It’s what they teach and how they teach that directly affect the lasting impression they leave.
Susana has forged a reputation for doing just that. With a background in tech stretching back to 2003 and over 5,000 hours of face-to-face teaching experience since 2011, she brings a blend of technical expertise and a genuine passion for helping others learn.
Whether it’s Excel, Power Query, Power Pivot, or Power BI, Susana has helped ‘demystify’ the fear of these technologies to help countless people succeed in their professional lives.
She runs a website offering free courses, company training, and private lessons. Plus, she's active on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Expect Susana to rise further and further in the years to come!
BEST Microsoft Excel Add-in
ASAP Utilities
We all know Excel has a huge amount of power and customisation, but some tasks just have a habit of eating up precious time that could be best used elsewhere.
Step in ASAP Utilities. This add-in offers over 300 time-saving tools in a convenient ribbon tab, covering everything from data cleanup to formatting, navigation, and reporting.
While everything featured is technically possible to do in Excel without the add-in — practically, it isn’t.
Instead of jumping through hoops and loops to string together formulas, VBA code, or Power Query steps, ASAP Utilities can shave off anything from seconds to minutes or hours per task.
Founder Bastien Mensink proudly stepped up on stage to collect the award on behalf of everyone on the team who's behind the worldwide popularity of this productivity-boosting toolbox.
If you're not already using ASAP Utilities, give it a whirl! You can try it without risk thanks to a free 90-day trial.
Most Innovative Use of Excel
'Microsoft Excel Simulator' by Mohammad El Medawar
Excel is used in all kinds of weird, wacky, and wonderful ways, but what's the best way to learn it?
We all know you can binge-watch bite-sized videos on social media, take full courses, or read articles and books. However, Mohammad has built an incredible alternative.
His Microsoft Excel Simulator is billed as 'The Future of Learning' thanks to the platform's interactive, hands-on approach that simulates real-world Excel problem-solving, making it an immersive experience like no other.
Many professionals and students and have already benefited from this approach to learning the program, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
Make no mistake, though, Mohammad's work stretches well beyond the simulator, having implemented solutions and delivered more than 500 training programs for various major organisations.
You can get a glimpse of what the Microsoft Excel Simulator is capable of yourself. There's even a Power BI equivalent to try out as well.
Unfortunately, Mohammad couldn’t make it to London, but he kindly left us a video message celebrating his success!
BEST LAMBDA
'UNPIVOT' by Erik Oehm
Since the introduction of LAMBDA, a growing number of Excel users have been constructing bespoke functions that can dramatically slash time.
Erik's winning UNPIVOT function is superb, and it cuts out a huge amount of legwork when trying to convert pivoted data into unpivoted data.
However, he's also produced numerous other LAMBDAs, which are all accessible via his GitHub page.
Erik is a man of many talents, so it was unsurprising he was nominated for three categories. That’s the most by a single person in Global Excel Awards history!
In fact, it was almost four.
Microautomation tool OA Robot would have made the cut for Best Microsoft Excel Add-in, but it wasn't elligible due to being in beta. That didn’t stop many of you cheekily trying to put it forward, though!
Nevertheless, one of the great quotes of the Summit came from Erik after he went up on stage to collect his award…
Leila Gharani: "Erik, do you want to say some words?"
Erik Oehm: "I don't really do words — I just do LAMBDAs."
BEST Global Excel Summit 2025 In-Person Session
'The magic of the CONCATENATEX function in Power BI' by Chandeep Chhabra
Going into the ceremony at the end of the second day, this was the only category that had not been determined. However, thanks to our live poll feature, the London and online audiences were able to vote for their favourite session in real-time.
As everyone scanned the QR code on the screen using their phones, they were taken to a webpage with a lengthy list of options.
With so many great sessions, this was a tough decision. And being able to tap just one option proved tricky for many — especially as they only had a couple of minutes to do it!
However, after a brief period of suspense, the live results were conclusive: Chandeep had a clear lead over the chasing pack.
The India-based Goodly trainer followed up on last year’s ‘MVP in the Making’ award by securing another well-earned prize.
His outstanding presentation on Power BI's CONCATENATEX function wowed the masses as he demonstrated its creative uses to enhance your reporting.
Somehow, the fact that a Power BI session won at an Excel conference shows you how much it resonated with people!
Final words
Congratulations to our winners! Their awards are a testament to all the hard work and dedication they've put in over the years.
On a related note, it’s fair to say that integrating the ceremony into the Summit this year made it extra special.
Nothing quite beats the in-person thrill of seeing each category winner go up on stage to collect their trophy while greeted by rapturous applause.
Thank you to our winners, finalists, judges, and everyone who participated in the nominations and voting stages.
That's it for another year! Stay tuned for details about the third installment of the Global Excel Awards — follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter to be kept in the loop.
And if you want to be part of next year's Global Excel Summit, there are still some online Blind Tickets remaining, giving you a whopping 40% OFF. Make it quick, though!
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