Winners of Victorian Training Awards announced

WOMEN took centre stage at the 63rd Victorian Training Awards, which recognises the high-quality training being delivered across the state, taking home six of the seven individual awards.

At the awards ceremony last week, Minister for Training and Skills Gayle Tierney congratulated the 13 winners of the annual awards for apprentices, students, teachers, employers and training providers for their contribution and dedication to excellence in training.

Women took out the top gongs for Apprentice of the Year, School-based Apprentice/Trainee of the Year, Teacher/Trainer of the Year, Trainee of the Year, Vocational Student of the Year, as well as the Lynne Kosky Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Winner of the Vocational Student of the Year Award Elise Stewart is profoundly deaf and was once told she would never be able reach her dream of becoming a nurse. Her resilience and determination helped her become the first deaf person to graduate with a Diploma of Nursing at Bendigo TAFE.

The Lynne Kosky Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement to Jennie Barrera for outstanding leadership and contribution to the Victorian TAFE and Training system for more than 25 years, and Melbourne Polytechnic was the inaugural winner of the state’s first Inclusive Training Provider of the Year Award.

Locally, the Growing the Health & Community Services Workforce program – a collaboration between Skilling the Bay and the Geelong Region LLEN – was one of three finalists in the Industry Collaboration category. The program targets students while they are still at school and provides them with direct exposure to a large variety of jobs in the health and community services sector. About 300 years 10 – 12 students from across Geelong are involved in the program every year.

Winners from eligible categories will represent Victoria at the Australian Training Awards in Sydney on November 15.