#WAAwards2021
Worcestershire Apprenticeships Awards 2021
WHEN: 16 - 18 November 2021

WHERE: virtual

CLIENT: Worcestershire County Council and Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership
AV PARTNER: Mercian Events Limited

The Worcestershire Apprenticeships Awards returned in 2021 in a fully virtual format spread across a 3 day schedule.

After the absence of the awards in 2020 due to the challenges presented by COVID-19, the organisers chose a virtual platform to deliver their awards event. They received a large amount of nominations across the 6 categories, including entries for the new Apprentice Resilience Award in recognition of the hard work and achievements of local apprentices, their employers and training providers.

This year’s awards were delivered in a new virtual format across three days, the 16th, 17th and 18th of November 2021.

Each of these three days focused on a different set of awards, and the episodes feature updates on the impact and challenges for Apprenticeships in the county, along with what the Worcestershire LEP, County Council and partners across the county will continue to do to support Apprenticeships in the future.

The episodes were pre-recorded and broadcast live each day. Working in partnership with our media partners from Stone's Throw Media, we created a film studio at Worcester's Sixways Stadium. The presenters and guest speakers for each day were invited to take part in a panel discussion followed by the announcements of the awards on each day. The nominees and winners were all visited in the weeks leading up to the broadcast dates and filmed on location.

The Apprentice of the Year was chosen from the winners of the Intermediate, Advanced and Higher Apprentice awards. The Apprenticeship Employer of the Year was chosen from the winners of the SME and Large Employer awards.

Normally at a formal awards event, the Team here at OD&V would have worked closely with the venue to organise a 3-course dinner with a celebrity host and entertainment, however this year we created a number of winner's hampers and baskets of goodies which were distributed to the finalists. The hampers and baskets contained a selection of locally produced food and drink from Pershore College, Hodge Hill Nurseries and Croome Cuisine Cheeses.