March 27, 2024
The second annual South Burnett Training Awards have been hailed as a success by organisers after tickets were booked out in advance and the number of nominations for awards almost doubled.
The awards, which are organised by the Rotary Satellite Club of Kingaroy Sunrise, were presented during a dinner held on Saturday night at the Wondai Memorial Hall.
The evening was compered by Darren Schmidt, from St John’s Lutheran School, with the trophies presented by representatives from the award sponsors.
Rotary Sunrise club chair Mark Pitt said the quality of the entrants meant the independent panel of five judges had a difficult time scoring the entries.
In several cases, there were just one or two votes between the winner and runners-up.
“These young people are a wonderful example of the people we have in the region,” Mr Pitt said.
Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington congratulated all the nominees and the award winners.
“You are our future in the South Burnett,” she said.
Mrs Frecklington recalled that she began her career after school as a trainee with Fletcher Jones.
Stanwell general manager (southern generation operations) Michael Joy congratulated all the nominees.
“Regardless of the results … you have been nominated by your employer,” he said.
“That’s something you should take great pride in.”
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Award Winners
- School-Based Trainee/Apprentice of the Year (presented by Sunpork Group) – Pyper Connelly
- Equity Award (presented by ATC Engineering) – Evander Mickelo
- Trainee of the Year (presented by LG Media Services) – Lillian Davey
- Apprentice of the Year (presented by Burnett Today) – Trudi Reick
- Business of the Year (presented by Rotary Satellite Club of Kingaroy Sunrise) – South Burnett CTC Inc
Also announced on the evening was the inaugural Building Industry Training Vocational Medallion.
It was presented to Bethany Mendes by Alain Pillay, executive director of Building Industry Training (BIT) and a director of the Ethos Medical Group which will be developing the new $130 million health hub in the Kingaroy CBD.
Mr Pillay also announced three training initiatives for the South Burnett, including scholarships for would-be trainees or apprentices in the region who could not afford to undertake training.
He also pledged that 50 per cent of the content for the hospital development would be sourced locally.
“We actually want to build teams that can maintain these assets long-term here,” he said.
The evening also featured the presentation of Rotary Pride of Workmanship Awards as part of a collaboration between the Murgon and Kingaroy Rotary clubs.
Event co-ordinator Nicola Pitt said 13 quality Pride of Workmanship entries were presented: Aidan Musch, Erica Hedges, Lisa Atkinson, Shirley Kerkow, Rowena Sander, Jackie Raine, Aaron Livingstone, the Meals on Wheels Team, Shannon Scott, Kylie Kersten, Joanna Haak, Jim Murphy and Wayne Sippel.
These awards are presented after nominations by employers.
Mr Pitt said the awards were an amazing show of support for small business and training in the South Burnett region.
Music on the night was supplied by Jarrod Edwards and catering by a new South Burnett business, The Picnic House.
Also helping out to make the evening a success were volunteers from the Wondai Wolves rugby league club and cadets from the Wondai 135 ACU.
“As always, it’s been our aim to spend most of the money within the South Burnett, and once again, the only out-of-region cost was the Rotary-specific Pride of Workmanship shields,” Mr Pitt said.
“We want to share our opportunities with our local community, which is why we seek to partner with other small groups to present this night.”
Next year’s South Burnett Training Awards will be hosted in Murgon on a date to be fixed.
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Rotary Pride Of Workmanship Awards
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