Local baker named state’s best

A FEDERATION TAFE student has been named the school-based apprentice or trainee of the year at the Victorian Training Awards.

Certificate III in Baking student Stavriana Taliadoros is enrolled at TAFE in Ballarat and works on Wednesday and Saturday at Sunraysia Bread and Butter Bakery in her hometown of Mildura.

When Ms Taliadoros was a child, her grandparents owned a cafe in London and her father shared stories about working in the businesses and family recipes.

Ms Taliadoros became passionate about food and knew she wanted to pursue it as a career.

“I’m over the moon, and I feel like all my hard work has paid off,” she said. “It is such a great feeling.

“Baking isn’t just a career for me, it’s something that I’m very passionate about and love to do every single day.

“When I collected the award, I spoke about how what I am doing is something that I can do with passion and love – it’s not for the sake of a career path, it’s so meaningful to me.”

Ms Taliadoros is completing the apprenticeship and Year 12 VCE concurrently, which she said has helped her develop time management and organisational skills.

“As a baker, I start my shift as early as 2am, so that means getting up at 1am for those two days, and I attend to various roles, from dough preparation to developing and decorating sweet products, customer service and cleaning,” she said.

The Federation TAFE course focuses on practical, hands-on skills.

“I have always had a passion for concocting singular ingredients into masterpieces of creativity,” Ms Taliadoros said.

“I believe I shine the most when developing my ideas into delicious products, sharing an inner part of myself with those around me.”

Federation TAFE bakery teacher Mick Windsor said he had a feeling Ms Taliadoros would win the award.

“I was so pleased because Stavriana is an outstanding person who really makes life easy for us because she is so committed and enthusiastic in everything that she does,” he said. “She is always demonstrating her knowledge, sets a high standard and is a motivated worker in the bakery.

“She has already had success in bakery industry competitions and has the potential to succeed at a higher level.”

Ms Taliadoros won third prize in the Great Australian Vanilla Slice Triumph Merbein in 2024 and 2025.

Last year she came second in the four-strand dough plait category at the South Australian Baking Show. This year, she competed in the Victorian Bread Show and was awarded third place for her white block loaf.