News: First Maritime UK Apprenticeship Awards launched
Maritime UK has announced its first ever national Apprenticeship Awards in partnership with Mersey Maritime, which will be included as part of the Mersey Maritime Industry Awards 2021, due to be held on 17 September. The two award categories are designed to shine a spotlight on how the sector supports talent development through apprenticeships.
Maritime UK’s award categories will recognise and celebrate quality maritime employers and the individuals who have chosen to build a career in our thriving sector. The awards are an opportunity for the sector to come together to celebrate its commitment to finding the right people to feed its pipeline of talent as identified in the Maritime 2050: people route map.
The winners of these two awards will be announced as part of the Mersey Maritime Industry Awards, now in their 7th year and due to be held during London International Shipping Week.
Maritime UK is calling on companies and organisations across the sector to submit nominations for both an apprenticeship scheme and individual apprentices. By doing so the sector will share the positive messages about the maritime industries and raise awareness amongst young people and job seekers who are investigating their own career opportunities.
Schemes embracing all pathways within the sector – from engineering to marketing – are eligible for nomination.
The Maritime UK Apprentice of the Year, sponsored by the Royal Navy, is a national award open to apprentices currently on programme or those who have completed their apprenticeship in 2021. Nominations will be made by their employer and will demonstrate distance travelled by the individual, the skills learned and the impact this individual has had on the organisation. This category is for apprentices employed in the sector, regardless of which apprenticeship pathway they are on.
All nominees will be invited to a face-to-face interview.
The Maritime UK Apprentice Employer of the Year, sponsored by VIRSEC, is a national award open to maritime sector employers of all sizes in the UK who invest in apprenticeships and use them as part of their people pipeline strategy. Companies entering this award will be able to demonstrate their long-term commitment to apprenticeships, and how apprentices have progressed in their organisation on completion of their training. They will also be able to demonstrate inclusion and diversity in their programmes and will have current apprentices on their payroll at the time of submitting their entry.
Maritime UK’s Chief Executive, Ben Murray, said:
“We’re incredibly excited to announce details of our first Maritime UK Apprenticeship Awards, which will form part of this year's Mersey Maritime Industry Awards. The two award categories will see the whole sector celebrating the rich talent we have in our people pipeline, and by raising awareness, will encourage more people to seek a rewarding career in maritime. Including them within an already established and prestigious awards event will give the winners of these awards the recognition they deserve, and we are grateful to Mersey Maritime for making this possible. Public appreciation of apprenticeships is growing, and we need to make sure that people look to maritime to fulfil their career ambitions.”
Mersey Maritime’s CEO, Chris Shirling-Rooke said:
“The Mersey Maritime Industry Awards are a key event in the UK maritime calendar and now in their seventh year are widely recognised as one of the UK’s leading maritime awards. The theme for the awards this year is ‘Building Back Better’ and represent an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the resilience, innovation and vibrancy of our maritime and logistics industry, particularly given the unprecedented challenges it has faced over the last year.
We are delighted to be working in partnership with Maritime UK this year by adding their two Apprentice awards to our line-up of categories, and to have secured the sponsorship support of two of our members the Royal Navy and VIRSEC.”
Lorna Wagner, Maritime UK Programme Manager (Careers and Outreach), said:
“With the sector expected to double in size to £3trn by 2030, we need the next generation of innovators and problem solvers to join the industry and help shape the future of the world we live in. We are using these Maritime UK Apprenticeship Award categories as an opportunity to focus on the good news stories about the sector and the talent within as well as and the myriad of varied, exciting and satisfying career pathways on offer.
“We are delighted that the Royal Navy and VIRSEC are sponsoring these categories and by doing so endorsing the importance and value of apprenticeships as a pipeline for talent into our sector. It is the partnerships we have with regional cluster organisations such as Mersey Maritime that makes the recognition of these vital efforts within our sector possible and I am therefore thrilled that these categories are launched as part of Mersey Maritime's annual event in September."
London International Shipping Week is being held from 13-17 September 2021. The Mersey Maritime Industry Awards are being held on Friday 17 September. Nominations for the awards are now open and can be accessed below.