{"id":244400,"date":"2019-09-17T16:44:07","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T06:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=244400"},"modified":"2020-07-17T16:47:36","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T06:47:36","slug":"astills-wins-state-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/09\/17\/astills-wins-state-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Astill’s Wins State Award"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Amanda and Mick Astill, from Astill’s Electrical, with their State award … they are waiting to find out whether they will be judged in the national awards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

September 17, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Astill\u2019s Electrical Services has celebrated its 10th birthday by taking out the Queensland Medium Employer of the Year trophy at the Queensland Training Awards in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

Owners Mick and Amanda Astill were congratulated and presented with their State trophy by\u00a0Training and Skills Development Minister Shannon Fentiman at the Brisbane Convention Centre on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

They qualified for the State competition after being successful at a regional level in the\u00a0Darling Downs South West awards in July.<\/p>\n

Astill’s began 10 years ago next month in a garage in Wondai.<\/p>\n

It’s growth has been steady over the years and it now boasts modern, new premises in Kingaroy plus a branch on the Sunshine Coast.<\/p>\n

When southburnett.com.au<\/strong> spoke to Astill’s after their regional win in July, they had 26 employees across the two sites.<\/p>\n

But the business continues to grow: Astill’s now has 28 workers, including seven apprentices and one trainee.<\/p>\n

Amanda said winning the State award was unexpected but Mick was more confident.<\/p>\n

“We put a lot of effort in,” he said.<\/p>\n

Amanda agreed: “It’s nice to get recognised.”<\/p>\n

In 2018, Mick and Amanda took home the Darling Downs South West Small Employer of the Year award and were finalists in the State awards.<\/p>\n

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Phyllicia Landers at the regional awards (Photo: SkillCentred)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Phyllicia Landers, from Cherbourg, was a finalist on Saturday night in the Equity VET Student of the Year State award.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She won the regional award in July.<\/p>\n

Phyllicia started as a hospitality trainee under the State Government\u2019s Skilling Queenslanders For Work program in 2016 and completed a Certificate II in Hospitality.<\/p>\n

In October 2017, she began work at the Cherbourg Community Cafe and Training Centre.<\/p>\n

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Ms Fentiman said the 58th<\/sup> Queensland Training Awards celebrated individuals and organisations that strove for and achieved success, best practice and innovation in vocational education and training.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

She presented awards to winners across 14 categories.<\/p>\n

The 2019 State winners were:<\/p>\n