APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR

One of the most hotly-contested categories, this is a new award for 2015 which aims to honour those young people who have chosen the path of apprenticeships to gain employment, and who have excelled in their chosen trade or profession.

CONNOR SCHERER (Malik House)

His nomination reads: "Connor has made a significant contribution to the Malik House team since joining us in July 2014. He has shown great dedication, talent, commitment and ability across a range of business disciplines. Initially, Connor was recruited to assist with events but the skills he has demonstrated have resulted in his role evolving to include a much wider range of tasks and responsibilities. At the age of 17 he has demonstrated maturity well beyond his years and we believe he has an extremely bright future ahead of him."

KEELEY McINTYRE (Incommunities)

Keeley's nomination says: "Keeley McIntyre joined Incommunities in September 2013 after applying for a place on our apprenticeship programme. Although Keeley didn't really know which trade area she wanted to work in, she decided to choose plastering and she hasn't looked back since. She shows a real commitment and aptitude to learn and develop. Plastering is a difficult skill to gain and it means hours and hours of dedicated learning and practice. However, over the past 12 months, she has grown to become a key member of the team and has developed a real self-confidence."

CHARLOTTE WESTALL (Exceed)

Her nomination reads: "Charlotte was a poor achiever in mainstream schooling and was expected to fail in all academic subjects. Because of her lack of engagement, she followed the wrong path and found herself excluded to a pupil referral unit. Working with Charlotte, we identified her strengths and provided a positive environment for her to build upon these but, more challengingly, we highlighted areas for improvement and worked on creating opportunities to overcome these. Despite finding the academic side of her role a challenge, Charlotte has, with support and encouragement, achieved level 2 in Maths and English and has displayed tenacity that would have been missed within a mainstream schooling system."

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