Three regional Victorian apprentices have been honoured for the quality of their work at Master Builders Victoria’s Regional Apprentice Awards Ballarat, held last night in Ballarat.

The Ballarat awards are one of five divisions of Master Builders Victoria’s Regional Apprentice awards that are celebrated across Victoria each year, including the Gippsland, North East, South East and Bendigo regions.

Mitchell Welsh from Ballarat North was awarded the Ballarat Chairperson’s Award at a celebration on Thursday, February 29 at the Mercure Hotel and Convention Cenre, which was attended by more than 120 guests.

Employed by Anderson Builders and nominated by Building Skills Centre, the judges in this year’s awards said Mitchell who is a 4th year Carpentry apprentice had demonstrated great persistence, skill and dedication to his trade.

“Mitchell has enjoyed woodworking since a young age, making his pre-apprenticepship in building and construction an obvious first step and since progressing through his apprenticeship, Mitchell has never considered any other career path for himself.”

Fourth year Carpentry apprentice Tyson Strachan from Warrenheip took home the Apprentice of the Year Ballarat, Future Builder Award.

Nominated by his training provider, Platinum Institute Australia and employed by Josh Ryan Carpentry, the judges said Tyson found his passion for building early in life when his childhood home was being built.

“After dreaming of building houses, Tyson loves the satisfaction these days of seeing the results of his work and is known for gifting handcrafted coffee tables to friends and family. Now, he has a five year plan of becoming a registered builder.”

The final award of the night, the Apprentice of the Year Ballarat, Developing Leader Award was awarded to Devon Orr, a 4th year Carpentry apprentice from Lake Wendouree.

Devon is employed by Stuart Allen Building and was nominated for the award by Building Skills Centre.

“Devon’s interest in carpentry was sparked when his current employer was completing renovation works on his family home. When Devon was offered an apprenticeship position, he jumped at the opportunity and has never looked back.”

Apprentices nominated for the awards were judged on their preparation and presentation, work experience, knowledge and career plans, attitude on and about the job and industry representation by a panel of industry judges.

Master Builders Victoria CEO, Michaela Lihou congratulated Mitchell, Tyson and Devon on their awards, noting the strength of this year’s nominations.

“I was delighted to attend these awards and it was wonderful to see firsthand the energy and excitement, these apprentices bring to their work and the futures they can see for themselves in our industry. My sincerest congratulations to all of the nominees and the winners,” she said.

The Ballarat region apprentice award winners will now go on to the overall Victorian State Apprentice of the Year Awards being held at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on Thursday, May 9, 2024.

Media enquiries: Leigh McClusky 0411 711 780.