San Francisco, Calif., August 15, 2025 — SweetRush, a premier learning strategy and solutions partner, along with its clients, is proud to announce it has earned 30 prestigious Brandon Hall Group™ HCM Excellence Awards®, including 29 Gold awards.
These accolades are shared with client-partners Allergan Aesthetics, Capgemini, Hilton, Mars, Regions Bank, and SHRM, all of whom consistently demonstrate a commitment to innovative learning and development initiatives, supported by SweetRush’s expertise.
“This is a celebration of the incredible partnerships we have with our clients,” said SweetRush CEO Danielle Hart. “When our team’s creativity and craft meet our client’s collaborative spirit and bold vision, magic happens. We’re so proud to co-create solutions that make a real difference in people’s lives and in their organizations.”
The awards underscore the expansive capabilities of the SweetRush team, spanning multiple HCM Excellence categories across three program areas: Leadership Development, Learning and Development, and Talent Acquisition.
Highlights include:
Awards in 16 unique categories
- 3 Gold awards for Best Blended Learning Program
- 6 Gold awards for Best Custom Content Learning
- 1 Gold award for Best Learning Team
- 5 Gold awards for Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development Program
- 2 Gold awards for Best Use of Games and Simulations for Learning
- 2 Gold awards for Best Use of Social and Collaborative Learning
- Gold wins in categories for coaching and mentoring, competencies and skills development, hybrid learning programs, and new hire onboarding, among others
SweetRush’s award-winning projects are designed to foster significant employee growth and development, leading to positive impact. This year’s programs include those that are helping:
- Medical aesthetics professionals assess their business needs, develop targeted strategies to advance their practices, and implement actionable plans using their own business data.
- Customer service teams in the hospitality industry to effectively manage customer resolution via an immersive AI-powered learning experience that simulates authentic customer interactions.
- New bank tellers prepare for the demands of their first few days and weeks on the job via an engaging new hire onboarding experience that features games, simulations, and community-based learning experiences.
- Corporate and guest-facing teams to recognize and report the compliance and privacy concerns that are unique to their workplace via a fun and memorable video series that educates and entertains.
- New hires of a global company embrace the company’s culture and apply personal leadership within their role via a series of immersive and engaging digital experiences designed to help translate theory into practice.
- Global team members of a tech firm to remain vigilant and proactive at noticing and preventing potential compliance issues via a heart-pounding, scenario-based compliance experience that presents real life dilemmas.
- Newcomers to HR and those with HR responsibilities develop the competencies and skills needed to succeed in the workplace of today and tomorrow via an engaging self-paced, learning experience that features custom development podcasts, videos, eLearning, and more.
“These awards are not just a validation of our efforts, they are a springboard for our future,” said Annie Hodson, Chief Client Solutions & Marketing Officer at SweetRush. “Awards motivate us to keep innovating and to design learning experiences that truly empower people and organizations to thrive.”
SweetRush supports clients within industries including automotive, banking and finance, business services, consumer goods, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, nonprofit, retail, and pharmaceuticals.
SweetRush’s 2025 Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards:
29 GOLD AWARDS
- Best Association Professional Development Program [x1]
- Best Blended Learning Program [x3]
- Best Coaching and Mentoring Program [x1]
- Best Competencies and Skills Development [x1]
- Best Compliance Training [x1]
- Best Custom Content Learning [x6]
- Best Extended Enterprise Learning Program [x1]
- Best Hybrid Learning Program [x1]
- Best Learning Program Supporting a Change Transformation Business Strategy [x1]
- Best Learning Team [x1]
- Best New Hire Onboarding Program [x1]
- Best Off-the-Shelf eLearning Course [x1]
- Best Unique or Innovative Leadership Development Program [x1]
- Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development Program [x5]
- Best Use of Games and Simulations for Learning [x2]
- Best Use of Social and Collaborative Learning [x2]
1 SILVER AWARD
- Best Custom Content Learning
“This year’s Excellence Award winners exemplify the transformative power of strategic human capital management. Through their innovative approaches to talent development and employee engagement, these organizations have not only achieved remarkable business outcomes but have also redefined what it means to create truly people-centric workplaces. Our comprehensive evaluation process has identified these programs as benchmarks for organizational excellence and innovation,” said Brandon Hall Group Chief Operating Officer Rachel Cooke, HCM Excellence Awards® program leader.”
“The 2025 Excellence Award recipients represent the pinnacle of achievement in human capital management. What sets this year’s winners apart is their bold embrace of emerging technologies and their commitment to creating meaningful employee experiences that drive tangible business results. These organizations have demonstrated that when you invest in your people with purpose and innovation, the impact resonates throughout the entire enterprise, creating sustainable competitive advantages in today’s dynamic business landscape,” said Brandon Hall Group™ Chief Executive Officer Mike Cooke.
All entries were evaluated based on the following criteria: alignment to business need and environment; program design, functionality, and delivery; adoption, integration, user experience, innovation, and creativity; overall effectiveness, impact, and measurable benefits.
If you’d like to connect to SweetRush about its award-winning approach to learning and development, visit the company website.
View the winners on the Brandon Hall Group website. Congratulations to all!
About SweetRush
SweetRush is trusted by many of the world’s most successful companies to help them improve the performance of their employees and extended enterprise. SweetRush is known for strategic thought leadership and exceptionally creative and effective solutions that combine the best of learning experience design with highly engaging delivery. SweetRush services include strategy consulting and analysis, custom L&D solution design and development, high-performing staff-augmentation talent staffing, certification development, and innovative learning technologies such as VR, AR, and AI. SweetRush’s work has earned a long list of awards and accolades in collaboration with its world-class clients. Discover more at www.sweetrush.com.
About Brandon Hall Group™
Brandon Hall Group™ is the home of the HCM Excellence Awards® — the most prestigious awards in Human Capital Management. Since 1993, these awards have set the gold standard for recognizing breakthrough innovations across Learning and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Human Resources, Sales Performance, Talent Acquisition, and Future of Work. Known as the “Academy Awards of Human Capital Management,” our awards program features over 150 categories and attracts entries from leading corporations worldwide.
Our rigorous evaluation process, conducted by veteran industry experts and Brandon Hall Group analysts, ensures that winners represent true excellence in HCM. The HCM Excellence Awards® are part of our comprehensive recognition ecosystem, which includes the Excellence in Technology Awards and Excellence in Action Awards.
For over 30 years, Brandon Hall Group™ has empowered and recognized excellence in organizations worldwide, influencing the development of over 10 million employees and executives. We are the only professional development company that offers data, research, insights and certification to Learning and Talent executives and organizations.
