On Thursday, 28 April and Friday, 29 April 2011 MPA Skills conducted its inaugural Annual Apprentice Awards. The MPA Skills Annual Apprentice Awards incorporated an Apprentice Employment Award and a Training Award for First, Second and Third Year Apprentice Painting and First, Second, Third and Fourth Year Apprentice Plumbing.

The Plumbing competition was conducted at MPA Skills Bayswater campus and the painting competition was conducted at MPA Skills Maylands campus. First and second year apprentices competed on Thursday and Third and Fourth year apprentices competed on the Friday.

The awards were introduced to encourage apprentices to participate in award competitions where they can demonstrate their skills. It also gives them a taste of competing under pressure.

It is hoped that apprentices competing in the MPA Skills Annual Apprentice Awards will go on and enter the Master Plumbers & Gasfitters Association of Western Australia and Master Painters Australia (WA) Association Apprentice of the Year Competitions which are conducted on an annual basis in or about August.

It was wonderful to see family, friends and employers supporting the apprentices by attending the competition day and the Award Presentations which were held at MPA Skills Maylands Campus.

All Award winners were presented with a certificate, a trophy and the sum of $500.

Congratulations to all of the apprentices who competed in the Annual Apprentice Awards. They were prepared to put themselves forward and compete against their peers and performed very well under pressure.

The apprentices who participated in the Awards were:

Painting – First Year:
Brendan Baster, Tim Sobey, Donna Paull, Adam Mirabile, Nathan McLaughlin, Patrick Cunningham.
Painting – Second Year:
Luke Pearce, Amy Truss, Michael Andersen, Matt Nonis, Jeanette Leach, Elyce Warburton, Jordan Zimmer.
Painting – Third Year:
Ian Bassett, Lee Thanos, Brett Wenzel, Ryan Purnell, Jake Graham, Marko Prijic.

Plumbing: - First Year:
Jordan Ossy-Orley, Luke Minchinton, Rodney Pellizzari, Blake Slatter, Andrew Lucano, Abraham Berkelaar, Troy Moore.
Plumbing – Second Year:
Paul Temov, Laurence Robinson, Christopher Miles, Andrew Doyle, Ryan Worth, Ben Devenish-Meares, Brayden Sims
Plumbing – Third Year:
Cameron DuBois, Callum Eiffler, Leon Poutsma, Rhys Kholer, Guilio Balla, Michael Fredericks, Ryan Rafferty.
Plumbing Fourth Year:
Nathan Halliwell, Scott Turnley.

A big congratulations to the following Award Winners:

Apprentice Employment:

First Year – Painting Donna Paul
Second Year – Painting Amy Truss
Third Year – Painting Ryan Purnell

First Year – Plumbing Luke Minchinton
Second Year – Plumbing Andrew Doyle
Third Year – Plumbing Giulio Balla
Fourth Year – Plumbing Nathan Halliwell

Overall Training Award:

First Year – Painting Donna Paul
Second Year – Painting Michael Anderson
Third Year – Painting Ryan Purnell

First Year – Plumbing Luke Minchinton
Second Year – Plumbing Brayden Sims
Third Year – Plumbing Michael Fredericks
Fourth Year – Plumbing Scott Turnley

Nomination forms for the 2012 MPA Skills Annual Apprentice Awards will be available and distributed in February 2012 and we encourage all apprentices to apply. We hope to see everyone at the 2012 MPA Skills Annual Apprentice Awards.

First and Second Year Competitors - Painting		Third Year Competitors - Painting		First and Second Year Competitors - Plumbing		Third and Fourth Year Competitors - Plumbing
		Apprentice Employment Award Winners - Painting
First Year Painting Apprentice 2011 Apprentice Employment Winner - Donna Paull Pictured here (right) with Nicole Thackray (left)		Second Year Painting Apprentice 2011 Apprentice Employment Winner - Amy Truss Pictured here (right) with Nicole Thackray (left)		Third Year Painting Apprentice 2011 Apprentice Employment Winner - Ryan Purnell Pictured here (right) with Nicole Thackray (left)
		Apprentice Employment Award Winners - Plumbing
First Year Plumbing Apprentice 2011 Apprentice Employment Winner - Luke Minchinton Pictured here (left) with Chris Proctor (right)		Second Year Plumbing Apprentice 2011 Apprentice Employment Winner - Andrew Doyle Pictured here (left) with Chris Proctor (right)		Third Year Plumbing Apprentice 2011 Apprentice Employment Winner - Giulio Balla Pictured here (left) with Wayne Wilson (right)		Fourth Year Plumbing Apprentice 2011 Apprentice Employment Winner - Nathan Halliwell Pictured here (left) with Wayne Wilson (right)

		Training Award Winners - Painting
First Year Painting Apprentice 2011 Training Winner - Donna Paull Pictured here (centre) with Drew Gronow (left) and Sharren Holt (right)		Second Year Painting Apprentice 2011 Training Winner - Michael Andersen Pictured here (centre) with Drew Gronow (left) and Sharren Holt (right)		Third Year Painting Apprentice 2011 Training Winner - Ryan Purnell Pictured here (left) with Murray Thomas(right)
		Training Award Winners - Plumbing
First Year Plumbing Apprentice 2011 Training Winner - Luke Minchinton Pictured here (centre) with Sharren Holt (left) and Lachlan Marr (right)		Second Year Plumbing Apprentice 2011 Training Winner - Brayden Sims Pictured here (centre) with Sharren Holt (left) and Lachlan Marr (right)		Third Year Plumbing Apprentice 2011 Training Winner - Michael Fredericks Pictured here (left) with Murray Thomas (right)		Fourth Year Plumbing Apprentice 2011 Training Winner - Scott Turnley