BAE apprentice awards announced

Rebecca Wolfenden, who also won the award for best technical apprentice, impressed the judges with her consistently excellent academic and technical work in addition to her professionalism and role-model behaviour. She was also congratulated on her ambassadorial role in promoting engineering to young people. Rebecca has already won the EEF North West Champion Outstanding Achievement for a Final Year Apprentice along with the IET Technical Apprentice Award for 2013. Last year she was presented with a Chairman's Gold Award for her work as part of the 'Bedflex' team who developed a device to help rehabilitating service personnel recover their fitness. Alongside the overall winner, a further ten awards were given to apprentices across the UK company as follows: • Kelsey Rawlinson from Maritime – Submarines at Barrow-in-Furness won the Community Achievement award with recognition for her 'outstanding personal commitment to making a difference in the community' • Chris Walling from Maritime – Submarines at Barrow-in-Furness won the Electrical Award with recognition for 'his knowledge and in-depth understanding of the high quality standards required' • Paul McKeown from Naval Ships at Glasgow won the Fabrication Award with recognition for amassing 'a great spread of experience over his apprenticeship and taking on additional responsibilities including mentoring younger apprentices' • Sally Topping from Military Air & Information at Samlesbury won the Business Administration Award with recognition for 'her drive and achievements in a very short space of time' • Stephen Matthews from Military Air & Information at Samlesbury won the Academic Commitment Award with recognition for 'achieving the highest level in his apprenticeship framework' • Alastair McGoldrick from Military Air & Information at Samlesbury won the Personal Achievement Award with recognition for his 'ability to balance his work commitments whilst completing his Royal Marines commando course and supporting the Prince's Trust' • Raj Tetali from Military Air & Information at Samlesbury won the Higher Apprentice Award with recognition for his commitment 'to being the best and getting the best out of his apprenticeship' • Christopher Johnson from Electronic Solutions at Rochester won the Business Achievement Award with recognition for 'delivering an additional 16 extra units, 11 days ahead of time resulting in £500K in additional sales' • Sonny Wilson from Maritime Services at Portsmouth won the Mechanical Award with recognition for 'demonstrating a great passion for his trade and taking on additional responsibilities' • The 'Hand-Bike' team from Military Air & Information at Warton won the Apprentice Innovation Challenge with recognition for developing a new gyro mechanism to assist disabled cyclists