Apprenticeship Success at QSA Awards

Sgil Cymru are celebrating after four nominees took home prizes from the Quality Skills Alliance (QSA) Apprenticeship Awards 2017 in Cardiff last night.  The QSA is a unique consortium of work based learning providers working together to develop excellence in apprenticeships, working with over a thousand employers to deliver apprenticeships across a huge range of sectors – from Automotive to Hairdressing, Creative Media to Pharmacy.  The Awards ceremony, held at Cardiff and Vale College’s city centre campus, celebrated the successes across the sectors, with three of Sgil Cymru’s nominees winning cross-sector awards.

BBC Cymru Wales won the Large Employer of the Year award for the second time, having previously won in 2015.  The BBC currently employ twelve apprentices at Broadcasting House and the Roath Lock drama village, working closely with Sgil Cymru to ensure that apprentices have a range of experiences on programmes including Doctor Who, Pobol Y Cwm, Bargain Hunt and X-Ray.

Cardiff Theatrical Services were the second creative industries company to take home a cross-sector award, winning Small Employer of the Year.  CTS, who build sets for opera, theatre, film and television production, are in their second year of employing apprentices through Sgil Cymru’s Apprenticeship in Creative and Digital Media programme, and have also employed other graduates from the Sgil Cymru apprenticeship scheme.

Former ITV Cymru Wales apprentice Nia Yorke was the stand out apprentice in her field, winning Creative Industries Apprentice of the Year.  During her apprenticeship, Nia worked on the Welsh Leaders Debate, overnight coverage of the Welsh Assembly Elections, and the Rugby World Cup. Nia, from Ely in Cardiff, is now working freelance for ITV in news, and is a skilled autocue operator.

Sgil Cymru’s nominee Dewi Foulkes, a special effects technician with partner employer Real SFX, won the Role Model of the Year award, recognising his success in the industry since completing his apprenticeship in 2012.  Dewi was recently announced as one of the winners of the Emmy award for ‘Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role’ for his work on the drama Sherlock at a star-studded event in Los Angeles, California – a remarkable achievement considering he had never even stepped onto a set prior to his apprenticeship. Dewi is inspiring the next generation of media apprentices.

Sgil Cymru proudly congratulates all of the winners of the awards and looks forward to another year of fantastic success for the employers and apprentices working on the scheme.

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