Nominations are open for the Employer Apprenticeship Awards.
The awards that recognize employers training apprentices in the industrial, service, motivation and construction sectors were launched in 2021 when 27 organizations in Sarnia-Lambton and Chatham-Kent came together to form the Southwest Apprenticeship Network, said spokesperson Mikelle Bryson-Campbell.
“This network is established to really help promote the skilled trades,” she said, adding the awards gala “is a way to spotlight local employers who have excelled in apprenticeship.”
Businesses and individuals can make nominations, and there were 35 for last year’s virtual eventshe said.
“Overall we think it went really well, but we’re really excited to be able to do it in person this year.”
The award gala is scheduled for March 3, and nominations close Jan. 16.
There are five awards total, Bryson-Campbell said. One per sector, and one rookie of the year award “for an employer who’s new to apprenticeship, to hiring an apprentice.”
The awards are about recognizing the need for skilled trades workers, she said.
“There’s a lot of projects that are planned that will continue to need skilled trades people,” she said. “And as the population ages and more retire, that demand, we suspect, will get even greater as well.”
The network began with Lambton College, the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership, and the Sarnia Lambton Workforce Development Board, where Bryson-Campbell is senior research associate.
It then branched out to include the other organizations, she said.
“We all have the same goal of promoting the skilled trades as a first-choice career option,” she said.
The network for now is focused exclusively on the awards, though its members are engaged in other initiatives to promote apprenticeship and the skilled trades, she said.
To make a nomination, email [email protected], or visit surveymonkey.com/r/886sv5h.