The search is now on to find the country’s top apprentices and Apprenticeship employers.
The Awards, which are run by the National Apprenticeship Service, are now open for entries to compete to be named ‘the best of the best’ on a regional and national level.
Skills and Enterprise Minister, Matthew Hancock said: “Apprenticeships are vital because they encourage ambition, help individuals develop fulfilling careers, drive competitiveness and fuel economic growth.
“The National Apprenticeship Awards are a real opportunity for employers and individuals to gain the recognition they richly deserve for their commitment to Apprenticeships, and the hugely positive example they set for other individuals and organisations to follow.”
Butcher Walter Smith Fine Foods, from Birmingham, scooped the Nuclear Decommissioning Site Licence Companies Medium Employer of the Year 2013 accolade.
Paul Cadman, HR Director of Walter Smith Fine Foods said: “Apprenticeships bring a myriad benefits to our business. By training apprentices on and off the job we are able to mould and shape them in the ways we want and need them to behave. They become Walter Smith people who know our business and all of our shop managers were once apprentices themselves.”
The apprentice categories for the 2014 awards are:
- Intermediate Apprentice of the Year
- Advanced Apprentice of the Year
- Higher Apprentice of the Year
- City & Guilds Apprenticeship Champion of the Year
The employer categories for the 2014 awards are:
- Small Employer of the Year
- Medium Employer of the Year
- Large Employer of the Year
- Macro Employer of the Year
- Newcomer - Small to Medium sized employers
- Newcomer - Large employers
To find out more about how to enter the National Apprenticeship Awards visit the Awards section of the website.
Entries close on Friday 28 March 2014
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.