The Bradford Means Business Awards 2021 aim to celebrate the successes and achievements of companies throughout the Bradford district.

Nominations are open across ten categories, and the Winner of Winners Award will be decided on the night.

An increasingly important way of attracting new talent and providing training for the future, there have been some fantastic successes locally with apprenticeships.

Sponsored by Bradford College, the Apprentice of the Year award recognises an employer’s best apprentice who has successfully come through their apprenticeship programme.

The finalists in this category will have gone above and beyond as part of their apprenticeship for an employer that has offered the support and training needed to kick-start their careers.

Alice Copeman of Solenis was the winner of the title of Apprentice of the Year in 2019 after training to be a laboratory technician.

She was taken on in 2017 straight after completing her GCSEs as a level three advanced laboratory technician apprentice.

She was consistently ahead of other apprentices on the programme, achieving merits or distinctions on all assignments.

Ben Glennon, Miss Copeman’s lead supervisor and mentor, said: “She’s very polite, very good at her job, she’s got a great work ethic. Any research development jobs – she does the lab work and then we can scale it up.

“Alice came so young – she’s a fresh pair of eyes.”

The apprentice mentor put out a message of encouragement to businesses across the district to start their own schemes and hire apprentices.

Find out more about the Bradford Means Business Awards 2021 here and nominate a business here.