The Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards recognised the best talent in the county with a special virtual broadcast on Thursday 1st October 2020.

The Apprentice of the Year Award was won by Teya Agnese, an Apprentice Clinical Trial Support Officer with the Surgical Invention Trials Unit (SITU) at the University of Oxford Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology & Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS). Teya also won the Intermediate Apprentice of the Year Award, which was sponsored and judged by Abbott Diabetes Care.

Shaun Smith, Site Director at Abbott Diabetes Care, said: “Teya’s enthusiasm and passion to do things differently and to drive on in the Apprentice scheme had really impacted the whole department in a positive way. She drove improvement in the whole department. Teya has that extra special thing.”

Teya was chosen as the overall Apprentice of the Year winner by headline sponsor High Spec Composites, with support from the Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards committee. Teya received a beautiful bespoke carbon fibre trophy, designed and hand crafted at High Spec Composites.

Sarah Jaycock said: “Teya’s application really did stand out to us because she goes above and beyond with her role. She also really goes the extra mile as an ambassador with her passion for promoting Apprenticeships on top of her day job, which is truly admirable.”

Teya said: “I firstly want to say thank you so very much for everyone’s kind words on the awards ceremony broadcast. I was over the moon to have been selected for the Intermediate Apprentice of the Year award, so when I continued watching and saw that I had also been selected for the Oxfordshire Apprentice of the Year award too I was absolutely speechless! I am extremely honoured and can’t thank my team at SITU, Oxford University Apprenticeships and Abingdon & Witney college enough. I hope that from this I can be given many more opportunities to help promote Apprenticeships further and likewise open new doors for my personal development.”

Find out what Teya has to say about winning her awards in this film clip.

See our article for details of all the winning and highly commended entrants.