Stars honoured at special night for first-ever Shropshire Telford & Wrekin Apprenticeship Awards

A capacity audience of 250 people gathered at the Mercure Telford Centre Hotel to celebrate 10 category winners were announced, alongside apprentice of the year champions for both Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.

Luke Courtnell of McPhillips was named Telford & Wrekin apprentice of the year, having also won the construction apprentice of the year award. Colleagues at the civil engineering firm say he has ‘set the bar for excellence and career progression’ through the McPhillips Apprenticeship Scheme, run in partnership with Telford College.

Luke has risen to assistant site manager in less than two years and has now moved on to a Level 6 NVQ in construction site management.

Kieran Jones, of Shropshire Council, won the Shropshire apprentice of the year title alongside the business, legal and finance trophy. He started his journey as a supported intern in the Right Home, Right Place team and then went into an inclusive apprenticeship.

He now works full time as a business support officer for the office of the chief executive, and achieved a triple distinction in his apprenticeship.

WR Partners of Shrewsbury was named best large apprentice employer of the year. The accountancy and business support firm recruits between 10 and 20 apprentices every year and has opened a new study hub – a digital learning platform to support its students.

The medium-sized apprentice employer award was won by Pave Aways of Knockin, a former Shropshire company of the year with a long-standing tradition of fostering apprentices. To date, the building firm has kick-started at least 70 people’s careers through apprenticeships.

The prize for small employer of the year went to communications firm Connexis of Telford. Since 2009, four out of five of its engineers have joined as apprentices, and one has now risen to become a director.

The competition was backed by some of the county’s biggest and best names, led by headline sponsors Aico of Oswestry and Telford College, and supported by the Marches Careers Hub.

It was organised by award-winning Shropshire events company Yarrington, in partnership with Shropshire Business Live TV which filmed the event for broadcast over the coming days.

Carl Jones, producer and presenter at SBLTV who hosted the awards, said: “The quality and volume of entries surpassed all expectations, and the judges said they faced a very difficult task narrowing down each category to three finalists – let alone choosing the winners.

“It’s been an incredibly successful event, and we’re looking forward to making it a regular fixture on the Shropshire business calendar. We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported us and made this fantastic event possible.”

Guests were entertained at the end of the evening by award-winning tribute artist Andy James, as Elvis – the legendary singer described as the most famous apprentice in the world, having started his life as a trainee electrician.

The full list of winners was:

Apprentice of the Year (Shropshire): Kieran Jones (Shropshire Council/Lifetime Training)

Apprentice of the year (Telford & Wrekin): Luke Courtnell (McPhillips / Telford College)

Manufacturing and engineering: Abigail Jones (i2r Packaging / Telford College)

IT and digital: Christa Bridges (PebblePad / University of Wolverhampton)

Health and social care: Chris Sheldon (Shropshire Council / University of Chester)

Construction: Luke Courtnell (McPhillips / Telford College)

Business, legal and finance: Kieran Jones (Shropshire Council / Lifetime Training)

Creative and media: Rhea Draycott (Shropshire Festivals / Shrewsbury Colleges Group)

Early Years and education: Kiran Kaur (Trench Tots / Telford College)

Small employer: Connexis, Telford

Medium employer: Pave Aways, Knockin

Large employer: WR Partners, Shrewsbury