THE search has started for the UK’s most promising plant apprentices and trainees, with the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) seeking entries for the CPA Stars of the Future Awards 2025.
The awards are free to enter and open to both CPA members and non-members. Nominations are welcome from all employers including plant hire companies, manufacturers, contractors, suppliers and others operating in the construction plant sector with apprentices and trainees in their workforce.
Nominees need to be on an approved apprenticeship scheme or an employer in-house learning programme.
Employers can download a nomination form from the CPA website at https://www.cpa.uk.net/skills-training/stars-of-the-future and complete and return it by deadline of March 21.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony held at the Heart of England Conference and Events Centre in Fillongley, near Coventry, on July 10. The event will be hosted by construction industry journalist and vlogger Peter Haddock.
Awards will be made for the categories of Plant Mechanic of the Year (Level 2), Plant Technician of the Year (Level 3), Young Plant Operative of the Year, Plant Operative of the Year, Plant Installer of the Year, Lifting Technician of the Year, Hire Controller of the Year, Apprentice Mentor of the Year and College of the Year. All nominees will also be eligible for accolades including the Judges’ Special Award and the Best Personal Statement Award.
A new category has been added for 2025 for Technical Support Person of the Year. This is for apprentices or trainees who are in a role that has a plant technical focus and who are supporting other plant-focused operations of their business such as data handling and supply, hiring activities, sales and marketing activities, parts and/or resources/equipment supply, machine/equipment systems programming/maintenance, site operational planning, and supporting external customers.
Steve Mulholland, CPA CEO said, “We urge employees – both small and large – to nominate apprentices and trainees who they see as being the industry’s future leaders, as it means the world to them to be nominated for an award. The awards are open to all employers across the industry, so nominating organisations needn’t be a CPA member to put someone forward.
“Stars of the Future is becoming more high profile every single year and last year’s winners received national recognition and won some fabulous prizes, including tool kits, machine training courses, iPads, an overseas trip to visit a Liebherr crane manufacturing plant in Germany, another overseas trip to one of Wolffkran’s manufacturing facilities in Luckau, Germany, and a VIP day courtesy of JCB. We know that many previous Stars of the Future winners have been fast-tracked to supervisory and management positions.
“At the CPA, one of our primary objectives is to encourage new blood into the construction plant sector, and Stars of the Future helps us to achieve this. The standard of entries gets higher every year and last year we received 80 nominations from across the industry. We anticipate even more this year.”
Stars of the Future has a two-tier judging process – the CPA selection panel and a panel of external judges who decide the eventual winners.
