LV= and Aviva stood out with four gongs each at the LifeSearch awards in London yesterday.
And it was a momentous event for Legal and General which walked away with the Protection Provider of the Decade award.
John Pollock, chief executive for risk business at L&G, said: "We see the award as recognition that we have been doing the right thing for customers over a long period and it has now paid off.
"We have worked hard over the past ten years to deliver quality products and services to ensure all our customers receive the best possible cover. Our aim now is to build on this success with the future development of our online protection systems and where appropriate, roll out innovative protection products."
L&G's retail protection business paid a total of £483m combined death and critical illness claims in 2012, up from £44m in 2011.
Aviva walked away with four awards for best; individual impact, service team for new business, underwriting team and overall provider.
Richard Verdin, protection director for Aviva, said: "This is further recognition from the industry for us. The awards recognise the efforts of everyone in our protection team."
LV= cleaned up in four categories too for best income protection provider and best new initiative, most improved provider and the Nick Crossman award for best PR and marketing.
Iain Clark, managing director of protection at LV=, said: "We are particularly pleased to be credited in two awards for our approach to the gender directive.
"We took the opportunity to do something a bit different to try and support and engage advisers on the opportunities approaching G day, and these awards are great recognition of the impact that had."
PruProtect also stood out with three award wins; best critical illness; best provider for existing customers; and chief executive Herschel Mayers took home best protection leader.
Phil Jeynes, head of account development at PruProtect, said it was particularly rewarding to win the award for critical illness as it was PruProtect's flagship product.
He said: "To continue with the success we have had with our critical illness product it is crucial we evolve the product without unnecessarily complicating it."
Bright Grey and Ageas won the remaining awards for best sales material and best e-commerce respectively.
