Enginuity Skills Awards 2023: Winners Announced

Last night (Thursday 29th June) saw leaders from across the UK’s engineering and manufacturing industries gather at the Enginuity Skills Awards 2023, to celebrate the best in UK engineering and manufacturing talent and the organisations championing skills development to ensure a bright future for these vital sectors in the UK economy.

This year’s ceremony, hosted by engineer and TV presenter Kate Bellingham, took place at the Park Plaza London Riverbank, and saw 10 prestigious Enginuity Skills Awards being presented.

The big winners of the evening were BAE Systems plc; which picked up the Apprentice Employer of the Year and Diversity and Inclusion Awards, along with BAE Systems’ Plant Maintenance Electrical Engineer Apprentice Kaylee Mcisaac winning the Large Employer Apprentice of the Year; and Anisha Roberts, an Apprentice Technician at Williams Jet Tenders who took home the SME Apprentice of the Year and the Best of British Engineering Awards.

ENGINUITY SKILLS AWARDS 2023 WINNERS

Apprentice Employer of the Year, sponsored by Teesside University: Creating the right environment for apprentices to thrive is crucial. This award is open to employers of all sizes who value and nurture apprentices, providing skills development that makes a difference.

Winner: BAE Systems plc
BAE Systems plc was recognised for its investment in apprenticeships to provide STEM and other hard to recruit skills.

SME Apprentice of the Year, sponsored by BAE Systems: Celebrates the commitment, innovative thinking, and superior skills contributed by an apprentice to the workplace of a small to medium-sized organisation

Winner: Anisha Roberts, Apprentice Technician, Williams Jet Tenders

Anisha impressed the judges for the ways in which she has helped to reduce waste and save money at boat manufacturer, Williams Jet Tenders.

Large Employer Apprentice of the Year, sponsored by Rolls-Royce: Celebrates the commitment, innovative thinking, and superior skills contributed by an apprentice to the workplace of a large organisation.

Winner: Kaylee Mcisaac, Plant Maintenance Electrical Engineer Apprentice, BAE Systems

Kaylee picked up the prize for her resilience, having lost her father a year and a half into her apprenticeship; her superior skills; and the extracurricular activities she takes on as a STEM ambassador.

Graduate or Degree Apprentice of the Year, sponsored by University College Birmingham: An individual whose route to a degree or a degree apprenticeship is truly inspirational.

Winner: James Millington, Engineer – Electric Powertrain, Bentley Motors

James impressed the judges with his proactive decision to pursue a degree apprenticeship because he believed it would give him a head start in the automotive industry resilience and his efforts to promote apprenticeships to more people.

Skills Champion of the Year, sponsored by EAL: An individual who commits their heart and soul to training and developing others.

Winner: Ruth Devine, Managing Director, SJD Electrical

Ruth was recognised for the time she dedicates to championing electrotechnical skills and encouraging more women into the sector.

Skills Innovation of the Year, sponsored by QinetiQ: An individual, team or organisation taking an innovative approach to addressing the skills requirements in our industry.

Winner: PM Training and Assessing Ltd – Virtual Reality for Signal Maintenance Engineers

PM Training and Assessing Ltd won the prize for its use of virtual reality to remind railway signal maintenance engineers of the importance of the work they do.

Investment in Skills Lifelong Learning, sponsored by Lloyd’s Register: An organisation committed to investing in the skills development of their existing workforce.

Winner: Legal and General Modular Homes

Legal and General Modular Homes impressed the judges with its on-site Modular Homes Academy.

Diversity and Inclusion, sponsored by Baxi: An organisation, individual or team making a meaningful contribution to improving diversity and inclusion.

Winner: BAE Systems

The judges recognised BAE Systems’ efforts to create an inclusive environment where everyone can make a difference.

Today’s Engineering Visionary, sponsored by Innovate UK: Recognises an individual working to making a difference today that will have an impact for generations to come; someone delivering engineering triumphs for our digital, environmentally aware age.

Winner: Ben Green, Chief Engineer at ITM Power
Ben won the Today’s Engineering Visionary Award for the pioneering work he is doing designing and developing ITM Power’s electrolysers which provide green hydrogen. As well as taking home the Award, Green has also earned his place in Enginuity’s Engineering Hall of Fame.

Best of British Engineering Award: Decided on the evening of the ceremony, from the individual winners of the other categories.

Winner: Anisha Roberts, Apprentice Technician, Williams Jet Tenders

Other Supporting Partners with a presence at the Enginuity Skills Awards 2023 included Siemens and MX Reality.

Even the trophies handed out at this year’s Enginuity Skills Awards were a demonstration of UK engineering talent. They were designed by Emma Mallaburn an Engineering Apprentice who is training at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in Coventry. All the engineering apprentices at the MTC were invited to submit CAD designs for the trophies, with Emma’s being selected as the winner by a panel made up of Andy Harvey, Applications Engineer, Fanuc UK; Gareth Williams, UK Sales Manager, EAL and James Wagstaff, Programme Delivery Manager, MTC.

Emma commented:

“It was great to use my creativity and put what I was learning into practice. I really wanted my design to be individual to who I am and represent my passion for sustainability.”

Ann Watson, Chief Executive of Enginuity, said:

“At Enginuity, we seek to enable employers to see opportunities and realise them by upskilling, ensure policy supports UK businesses in lead the digital and green economy globally, and help employers who want to inspire and engage young people with the careers available in engineering and manufacturing. The Enginuity Skills Awards is important as an annual celebration of the people and organisations committed to developing the UK’s engineering and manufacturing skills; but also, because the winners show want can be achieved.

” Engineering and manufacturing skills can create personal and economic growth, while changing the world for the better. The calibre of entries this year was perhaps the highest yet, and I would like to congratulate all our nominees and winners for their huge achievements. All of them are real innovators working to make a difference and we could not be more proud to have celebrated them tonight.”