The winners of the Technician of the Year Awards for 2010 were presented in November 2010.

National award

Tom Goodchild, a student member of IOM3, won the national award for 2010.

He is studying a four-year Advanced Apprenticeship with The Technical Training Group at Hartlepool College of Further Education. The course is full-time with a part-time technical qualification. As a Maintenance Engineer, Tom is undertaking competence-based on-the-job training at Cleveland Potash.

As part of the second stage of the apprenticeship, Tom had to undertake jobs of an electrical nature. He decided to build a belt slip protection panel, a safety device that prevents damage to conveyors and their drives. Having tested it, he also programmed the control of the system.

Higher award

Tom Berry has received the higher award for 2010. He is studying a Foundation Degree in Mechanical Engineering at Barnsley College. His third year work-based project looked at manufacturing, covering computer aided design and rapid prototyping.

Tom is employed as a Time Served Maintenance Engineer at Sheffield Forgemasters, responsible for the company's multimillion pound press and training an apprentice to the capability and skill level to become a mechanical engineer. He is also studying for an NVQ Level 4 in Business Management.

Following completion of his studies, Tom hopes to reach a management position within Sheffield Forgemasters.