A HOUSING group received a double boost at a recent awards ceremony.

The Community Housing Group, in Kidderminster, was named the West Midlands’ Best Apprenticeship Employers (large employer category) and employee Karen Lowry-Hall also picked up the West Midlands Apprentice Champion of the Year gong at the regional final of the National Apprenticeship Awards 2013.

The National Apprenticeship Awards celebrate the achievements of the country’s most outstanding Apprenticeship employers and their apprentices.

The awards are organised by the National Apprenticeship Service, who received in excess of 1,600 high quality entrants this year.

The Apprenticeship Champion of the Year category seeks strong advocates who have themselves been an apprentice.

Karen’s success showcases how she promotes apprenticeships and has made ex-ceptional achievements since completing her own apprenticeship and sees her qualify for a public vote to become the National City & Guilds Apprentice Champion of the year.

Ray Brookes, TCHG chief executive, said: “We are thrilled to be recognised for our commitment to helping young people achieve their potential.

“We are passionate about apprenticeships and have seen first-hand, what a positive career choice they are and the wide range of opportunities they provide.

“We would ask that businesses, schools, colleges and residents across the West Midlands take a few mom-ents to vote for Karen who is a inspiration to the apprentices of the future”

Jaine Bolton, divisional apprenticeship director for the National Apprecticeship Service, said: “This year’s awards were an exceptional showcase of the outstanding apprentices and employers we have in our region.

“Given the high volume and extraordinary calibre of entries we received, those who reached the regional final really are the cream of the crop.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Community Housing Group and Karen for this superb achievement.

“They are a shining example of how apprenticeships can allow employers to grow their own talent, and enable apprentices to build real careers.”

The West Midlands winners will now proceed through to a final, national judging stage, and the apprenticeship employer entries that were judged to be the very best of the best will have the additional honour of featuring in the acclaimed England’s Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers list, which will be produced by NAS in partnership with City & Guilds.

The Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers and the national award winners will be revealed during the opening ceremony of the UK’s largest national skills and careers event, The Skills Show, at the NEC in Birmingham on Thursday, November 14.

TCHG will be competing against organisations inc-luding DAF Trucks, Ply-mouth City Council, Boots Opticians, Selex, Keirs Ltd, ITV PLC, Barclays RBB Technology, Wakefield District Housing, BAM Nuttall Ltd, Liebherr GB Ltd and Aintree University Hospitals.

For more information visit apprenticeships.org.uk, or call 08000 150600.

To find out more about The Skills Show, go tothe website, theskillsshow.com.

Karen is among ten regional Champions now competing against each other in a public vote to determine who is going to be crowned the national winner. Voting is open until 3pm tomorrow (Friday).  To vote for her visit www.apprenticeships.org.uk/awards/nationalapprenticeshipawards/vote.aspx.