A nationwide competition for painting and decorating apprentices has been hosted at South & City College Birmingham for the first time.
The Painting and Decorating Association (PDA) held the third heat of its Apprentice of the Year contest at the college, with 13 apprentices from eight colleges taking part.
Three students from South & City College Birmingham took part in the gruelling six-hour challenge, which requires apprentices to take a complex design on paper and translate it into a carefully completed ‘mural’ on mock walls.
Lecturer in painting and decorating at South & City College Birmingham, Mark Morris, said: “We’re really excited to have hosted the PDA’s Apprentice of the Year competition event for the first time. It’s been great to watch the apprentices put their skills to the test and see them really engage with the competition.”
South & City College Birmingham hosted the Midlands heat of the competition at its Longbridge Construction Centre, which also included rounds held in Accrington, Glasgow and Kent.
Top-scoring apprentices will battle it out in a Grand Final to be held at Doncaster College and University Centre.
The competition is judged by Andrew Davis from the Association of Painting Craft Teachers (APCT) and PDA chief executive Neil Ogilvie.
Neil said: “Our Apprentice of the Year competition has expanded in recent years, with 75 apprentices entering the contest across the four regional heats in 2023. Apprentices really value the experience of taking part in the competition – they get to network with their peers and really push themselves to excel.
“We’d like to thank the team at South & City College Birmingham for hosting the first competition event as well as our sponsors, Crown Paints, CITB, Purdy Professional Painting Tools, Valspar Trade and Ciret UK, without whom we wouldn’t be able to provide this opportunity.”
The Apprentice of the Year winners will be announced at the PDA’s flagship Premier Trophy Awards ceremony, held at the prestigious Plaisterers’ Hall in London.
