LONDON, 7 July 2006 – Nigel Waterson MP, Shadow Minister for Pensions, today presented Aon Consulting’s 23^rd Pension & Investment Journalist of the Year Awards during an evening drinks reception at Portcullis House.  The event was hosted by Sir John Butterfill, Chairman of the All Party Group on Occupational Pensions. This year’s winners are:

• Paul Lewis (Moneybox, Radio 4) who topped the poll in the CONSUMER PENSION AND INVESTMENT JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR category;
• Hugh Wheelan (Financial News) who saw off rival business journalists to win the BUSINESS PENSION & INVESTMENT JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR award;
• Brendan Maton (freelance) who took home the top prize in the TECHNICAL PENSION & INVESTMENT JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR category;
• Rebecca O’Connor (The Times) who secured top marks as best NEWCOMER TO PENSION & INVESTMENT JOURNALISM, which acknowledges talented newcomers to the industry;
• Norma Cohen (Financial Times) who polled the most votes from her fellow journalists to win the PEOPLE’S CHOICE award, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to pensions and investment journalism over the past year.    

These industry awards were introduced in 1984 by Aon Consulting, one of the UK's leading firms of actuaries, employee benefit and human resources consultants. The awards are specifically designed to recognise the contribution of those journalists who most effectively assist the understanding of pensions and investment matters.  They also recognise the work of journalists who provide technical or analytical comment for professionals working in these areas, including pensions specialists, fund managers and independent advisers.

The business, consumer and technical award winners each received a cheque for £1,300.  Winners of the People’s Choice and Newcomer award categories were presented with a £1,000 cash prize each. All winners were also presented with permanent mementoes of engraved sterling silver ‘armada’ dishes.

Presentations were also made to the runners-ups who were: Julian Knight (BBC News online) and Robert Budden (Financial Times) in the CONSUMER CATEGORY; Phil Davis (FTfm) and Christine Seib (The Times) in the BUSINESS CATEGORY; Philip Coggan (Financial Times) and Pauline Skypala (Financial Times) in the TECHNICAL CATEGORY. Each received a prize of £500.

Ron Amy, Chairman & Chief Executive of Aon Consulting, said: “This is the twenty third time that Aon Consulting has sponsored the Pension & Investment Journalist of the Year Awards. We are delighted that so many journalists continue to enter the Awards – well over 50 entered this year.  Journalists play a vital communications role at a time when many people have become pretty disillusioned about pensions and investment returns. It is vital that we encourage greater pension provision and help the UK public make the right individual decisions through having a better understanding of savings and investment. The media have a key part to play in communicating these messages.”      

For photos of the event, please contact Alexandra Lewis.

Notes to editor:

About Aon Consulting

Aon Consulting is a leading human capital consultancy, helping organisations of every size to attract and keep the employees they need. We advise on all aspects of employment, including health-related insurance and risk; employee compensation and pensions; human resource strategy planning; job design and change management; and staff assessment and legal issues. Aon Consulting is a division of Aon, one of the UK’s largest insurance brokers and providers of risk management services and a major force in reinsurance and the UK human capital consulting market. Aon Consulting Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

About Aon

Aon Corporation is a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting. There are 46,000 employees working in Aon's 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions.

This press release contains certain statements related to future results, or states our intentions, beliefs and expectations or predictions for the future which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from either historical or anticipated results depending on a variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results include: general economic conditions in different countries in which we do business around the world, changes in global equity and fixed income markets that could affect the return on invested assets, fluctuations in exchange and interest rates that could influence revenue and expense, rating agency actions that could affect our ability to borrow funds, funding of our various pension plans, changes in the competitive environment, our ability to implement restructuring initiatives and other initiatives intended to yield cost savings, our ability to execute the stock repurchase program, changes in commercial property and casualty markets and commercial premium rates that could impact revenues, changes in revenues and earnings due to the elimination of contingent commissions, other uncertainties surrounding a new compensation model, the impact of investigations brought by state attorneys general, state insurance regulators, federal prosecutors, and federal regulators, the impact of class actions and individual lawsuits including client class actions, securities class actions, derivative actions, and ERISA class actions, the cost of resolution of other contingent liabilities and loss contingencies, and the difference in ultimate paid claims in our underwriting companies from actuarial estimates. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company’s financial results, is contained in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Aon Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in respect of insurance mediation activities only.