Sam's Star role at ACR Trainee of the Year 2017

Sam Gills of Star Engineering is the ACR Trainee of the Year for 2017.

He received a cheque for £1,000 plus other prizes from sponsors at the 8th ACR Trainee of the Year Awards, held at The Belfry.

​Sam was the unanimous choice of the judges, who also commented on the high standards which saw 10 young engineers recognised as finalists for the first time.

Runner-up Ethan Garside, of Allcool (NW), received £500 plus prizes, while Charlie Roper of JD Cooling was Highly Commended and received £300 and a selection of tools.

The seven other trainees who made it through to Birmingham received £200 each, donated by Dean & Wood and Pump House, plus other prizes.

The other finalists were: Charlie Eidsforth, DD Cooling; Tom Griffiths, Allcool (NW); Jack Culhane, Gelidus; Lewis Edwards, Hixon Refrigeration Services, Elizabeth Dunlop, HRP; Liam Gale, DD Cooling; Joe Holden, ACME Facilities Group.

Juliet Loiselle, Publisher of the ACR Journal, said: "We had a really high standard of entries this year and it is incredibly rewarding to be able to recognise such a talented group of young people.

"We are very grateful to all our sponsors and supporters, who make this event possible, and to the judges for their time and expertise.''

All profit from the event goes back into the industry and more than £34,000 has been raised over the years to help develop the next generation of engineers.

Sponsors of the event were Dean & Wood, RW Refrigeration Wholesale, HRP, Advanced Engineering, Sauermann, LU-VE Group, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, IOR, ITE UK, LG, the National ACR & Heat Pump Awards and the ACR Journal.

The judging team was Callum Shaw, CSC; Howard Noble, Beijer Ref UK, Steve Talidoros, LU-VE Group; Charles McAlpine, EasyAir Conditioning; Chris Vallis and Juliet Loiselle, ACR Journal.

More pictures from the event coming soon... watch this space!