More than 100 budding young insurance professionals turned out to receive their newly-attained qualifications at the Bermuda Insurance Institute’s (BII) Insurance Education Awards Luncheon held at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess yesterday.A total of 137 certificates were handed to 123 students in 15 areas of study at the ceremony compared to 146 certificates and designations for 127 students in 15 areas at last year’s event.Keynote speaker Gavin Bishop, vice-president and controller at Validus Re, spoke about discipline and commitment from students in pursuing their education within the re/insurance sector.Mr Bishop, who won the BII’s Young Re/insurance Person of the Year in 2010 for his encouragement of others to join the industry and get qualified, listed a number of reasons people given him for choosing to go into insurance, admitting that he had stumbled into it through blind luck.Citing his first boss as his inspiration, he gave some responses he had been given as to why people pursued industry qualifications and continued to do so, saying that it was always useful to have some world class designations behind you.“We are all looking for self-improvement, being better than the next person and making our own mark,” he said. “It takes discipline and commitment but it’s definitely worth it.”John Wight, president of the BII, kicked-off proceedings after lunch by commended the students for their commitment in achieving the qualifications and introducing Mr Bishop before Julie Preece, the BII’s director of education and training, presented the awards.The recipients attained qualifications ranging from the Insurance Institute of America’s Associate in Insurance, Associate in Claims, Associate in Reinsurance, Associate in Insurance Services, Associate in Insurance Accounting and Finance, Associate in Commercial Underwriting, Associate in Regulation and Compliance, Associate in Management, Associate in Risk Management and Certificate in Enterprise Risk Management to the American Institute for CPCU’s Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, the Chartered Insurance Institute’s Diploma in Insurance and Advanced Diploma in Insurance and the Professional Liability Underwriting Society’s Registered Professional Liability Underwriter.