Pictured: Chloe Penniston, winner of the inaugural Apprentice of the Year Award 2017, who has joined the awards committee this year on behalf of headline sponsor, The Fiona Wheeler Charitable Foundation.
The Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership have urged local businesses, training providers and individuals to enter their apprenticeship champions into this year’s Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards, ahead of entries drawing to a close at midnight next Monday (14 February).
This final opportunity to enter or nominate someone else for the prestigious county-wide awards comes alongside this year’s National Apprenticeship Week (7-14 February 2022), which focuses on the theme of ‘Build the Future’ – continuing from 2021 and focusing on the benefits apprenticeships can have on individuals, businesses, and local communities.
A series of resources surrounding National Apprenticeship Week can be found on the OxLEP website, including links to a webinar for parents, an apprenticeship dome feature added to the ‘Find Your Future’ careers platform, details on various open days and events around the county, along with details as to how to enter this year’s Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards.
The Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards 2022 are set to take place as a live virtual event on Thursday 19th May, following the success of the 2021 event - with a drinks reception for winners, sponsors and supporters of the awards to follow a week later.
This year’s headline sponsor is The Fiona Wheeler Charitable Foundation, which was established in memory of Fiona Wheeler, co-founder of The Burnside Partnership (TBP).
Fiona believed passionately in supporting young people in their careers and was instrumental in establishing The Burnside Partnership’s apprenticeship programme, which won the organisation the title of ‘Small Apprenticeship Employer of the Year’ at the 2018 awards.
The Burnside Partnership’s first apprentice, Chloe Penniston, also won the inaugural Apprentice of the Year Award in 2017, attending the ceremony with Fiona. Chloe has joined the awards committee this year and will announce the winner of the overall ‘Apprentice of the Year Award’ at the event in May.
Accolades scheduled for this year’s awards include:
- Intermediate Apprentice of the Year – sponsored by Abbott Diabetes Care
- Advanced Apprentice of the Year – sponsored by NielsenIQ
- Higher Apprentice of the Year – sponsored by Oxfordshire Advanced Skills
- Special Recognition Award – sponsored by Blenheim & Pye Homes
- Shining Star Award – sponsored by Integration Technology Ltd
- School/College Engagement Employer of the Year Award – sponsored by Harwell Science and Innovation Campus
- Apprenticeship Employer of the Year (less than 250 employees) – sponsored by Assure UK
- Apprenticeship Employer of the Year (250+ employees) – sponsored by Oxford North
- Careers Champion of the Year – sponsored by The Engineering Trust
- Training Provider Individual of the Year – sponsored by Owen Mumford
Further official event sponsors and supporters include: Abingdon & Witney College, Darke & Taylor, High Spec Composites, JDE, Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford University Development, Reaction Engines, South East Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (SEAAN) and The Hill Group.
Ahead of this year’s awards, the chief executive of OxLEP has reflected upon the importance of celebrating apprenticeships success – despite the severe challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic – not only highlighting to young people what an apprenticeship could bring to them, but also, why it’s vitally important to continue to garner business support across Oxfordshire for such schemes.
Nigel Tipple – Chief Executive of OxLEP – said: “We are delighted to be able to present the 2022 Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards virtually again after the success of the 2021 event, despite the unprecedented impact of COVID-19.
“Two years on, Coronavirus continues to have a tremendous impact on our business community, but it’s still important – perhaps now more than ever, that we encourage businesses to consider creating apprenticeship schemes and inform them of the support that is available.
“National Apprenticeship Week is a vital opportunity for us to recognise the importance of discovering talent through apprenticeship schemes and how this can really help organisations to ‘stay ahead’ of competitors and – in-turn – support our local communities to gain great qualifications too.
“We hope the Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards can help to show businesses the value of apprenticeships and that there has never been a better time to engage given the support that is available to them.”
The 2022 edition of the awards will be the sixth time the event has been held, with previous events taking place at locations such as Blenheim Palace and Jurys Inn Oxford.
To keep up with announcements surrounding this year’s Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards, follow @OxonApprentice on Twitter to keep up-to-date with our weekly #OAHour every Thursday at 1pm, along with the awards’ official hashtag #OAAwards2022.
Find out more about the Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards 2022
