Prize apprentice scoops three awards
AN apprentice with the Scottish Salmon Company scooped three big prizes at the Lantra Scotland Land-based and Aquaculture Learner of the Year Awards.
Janis Brivkalns from Dunoon was named as joint overall Learner of the Year, as well as winning the Aquaculture Learner of the Year and the Modern Apprentice of the Year accolades, at the awards in Dunblane. For the first time the Learner of the Year honour was shared, with Amy Park, an apprentice in mixed farming, the joint winner.
Brivkalns said:‘I feel very honoured with these Lantra Awards, I wasn’t expecting to win and to find that I’ve won three awards is amazing.
‘My job is incredibly rewarding, it’s a real privilege to work with the team, at the heart of salmon production. I enjoy being part of an industry that is so important to Scotland’s economy and heritage.’
Runner up in the aquaculture category was Scottish Sea Farms’ apprentice Billy Welsh, from Stromness in Orkney.And vet Harry Hamlin-Wright of Dawnfresh was awarded one of four CARAS (Council for Awards of Agricultural Societies) prizes. Also honoured as an aquaculture finalist was Andrew Richardson, a masters student at SAMS.