TWO Hamilton apprentices were honoured for their high-quality work last week at the 2023 Master Builders Victoria (MBV) Regional Apprentice of the Year Awards – South West, at a celebration at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong attended by more than 250 guests.

Following his success as 2022 South West TAFE’s Apprentice of the Year, Jones Building Dunkeld employee, Todd Robinson, joined with Huf Builders apprentice, Austin Cloete, to receive two of the three awards on offer last Thursday night.

Austin had been runner-up to Todd in the TAFE awards back in October last year.

Apprentices nominated for the MBV awards were judged on their preparation and presentation, work experience, knowledge and career plans, attitude on and about the job, and industry representation, by a panel of industry judges.

Todd took home the South-West Apprentice of the Year - Future Builder Award, and Austin received the South-West Chairperson’s Award.

Nominated by his training provider, South West TAFE, Todd took on his apprenticeship after deciding he was in a rut with his previous job in insurance.

“Todd is extremely driven in his career, and we were impressed by his forward-thinking and goals to become a registered builder with his own company and then longer term he wants to create an organisation that focuses on preserving the carpentry skill set,” said the judges.

“It’s clear that Todd is determined to achieve his ambitions and is ready to put in the hard work.”

Todd said the honour on Thursday was a “huge shock” as it “encompasses all the students from all of the learning institutions from Geelong and Portland in the south-west region”.

He said he had a great reaction from his family, friends and employer, but singled out his grandmother for extra interest.

“She loves to keep up with this sort of thing,” Todd said.

“She was very proud of it – her reaction was probably the most significant – just overwhelmed with joy.”

Todd said his background in the financial sector was an advantage to being on top of the bookkeeping aspect of carpentry, but despite a goal of running his own business, didn’t feel pressured to follow a particular timeline.

Austin was also nominated by South West TAFE where he was training, and the award judges noted that even though he had become a carer for his father during his apprenticeship, he persevered with his work despite having to juggle responsibilities on weeknights and weekends.

“Austin loves to utilise his problem-solving skills every day while continuing to develop and refine his carpentry skills and techniques,” the judges said.

“It’s clear he loves his work and is excited to continue progressing his career.”

Austin said although he attended Thursday night with quite an entourage – his boss and wife, his best friend, his mum, brother and his girlfriend – he had no expectations.

“(But) my brother was confident – ‘you’re going to win’,” he said.

“Everyone was just so thrilled. It was a great night, it really was.”

Austin said he loved being “as neat as possible” when it came to his work and especially loved the finishing off part of projects – “the nitty gritty stuff”.

He said it had always been important to him to look after his dad but now with his father in full-time care and his apprenticeship complete, he was booked to travel to Zimbabwe (where he was born) and South Africa in May to catch up with extended family.

“I came over (here) when I was seven,” he said.

“This is my first time in 16 and a half years going back.”

He said he was also looking forward to “safaris, drives, camping, fishing” and even “bungy jumping off Victoria Falls”.

Austin said he was extremely grateful to his employers for “giving me the opportunity”.

“To my boss Andrew Huf and (wife) Annette,” he said.

“(Also) Master Builders – I feel as if it’s the right thing to do – I never gave them a proper shout out on the night.”

The final award of the night, the South-West Apprentice of the Year – Developing Leader Award – was won by Dylan Little from Armstrong Creek, in Geelong’s south.

MBV interim chief executive, Michaela Lihou, congratulated Austin, Todd and Dylan on their awards, noting the strength of this year’s nominations.

“It’s a great accolade for the building and construction industry that we continue to see such talented apprentices building their futures with us,” she said.

Other South-West apprentices nominated for the awards received a Certificate of Merit in bricklaying/blocklaying, cabinet making, carpentry, joinery, painting and decorating, roof tiling, wall and ceiling lining, and wall and floor tiling.

The South-West regional winners will go on to the overall Victorian State Apprentice of the Year 2023 Awards being held at Marvel Stadium on Thursday, May 11.