FOUR people and businesses from Tamworth will contest the NSW Training Awards at Sydney Town Hall on Thursday night.
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Billed as the premier vocational education and training event of the year, the awards honour the best trainees, apprentices, vocational students, trainers, teachers and employers.
Christian Fritze, who works at 2340 Barber Shop and has completed a certificate III in barbering with Joblink Plus Training, is a finalist in the vocational student of the year title.
Glen Artney Truck Repairs and Obieco Industries are both finalists in the medium employer of the year section.
And former resident Sarah Ford is a finalist in the VET trainer/teacher of the year category for her work with public schools in primary industries studies.
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Mr Fritze said he would be attending the event with his parents, brother and trainer.
"I would really love to win the award, but if someone else beats me, that's alright," he said.
"It is an amazing experience and very humbling to be able to represent not only the North West region but NSW as a whole, along with the other two finalists."
Obieco HR and workplace health and safety manager, Fiona Sweeney, said providing training and employment opportunities was vital for the business as well as the area.
"We have something like 26 per cent of our staff engaged in training at any one time," she said.
"Without us providing these training opportunities, we would not be able to provide the full extent of our product range that we do ...
"It's not just 60 staff we're supporting; it's 60 families who are then able to remain within the region and feed back through to supporting other businesses."
Mrs Sweeney said the business was "so fortunate that we have got likes of Tamworth TAFE based here".
"[It] is able to provide that training for us for across our four disciplines of auto electrical, auto body spray-painting, engineering - mechanical and engineering - fabrication," she said.