Tomas Preidys named apprentice of the year at prestigious Made In Yorkshire Awards 2020

6 March 2020

Sewtec’s Tomas Preidys has won the accolade for apprentice of the year at the prestigious Made In Yorkshire Awards 2020.

Three employees smiling at camera with award, two are shaking hands

Held at the Hilton Hotel in Leeds City Centre on March 5, leaders from around the region came together at the glittering ceremony to celebrate the best of Yorkshire’s business.

In a competitive field, Tomas came out on top against three other apprentices from the region in the apprentice of the year award. Sewtec was also recognised at the awards with shortlistings for manufacturer of the year (over £25m) and the export award.

Tomas has made an incredible impact and become an integral part of our team over the past two years. Arriving in the UK from Lithuania with his parents nine years ago, aged 10 and speaking no English, makes his achievements even more remarkable.

He has rapidly developed all the technical abilities Sewtec requires, but his main contribution is in inspiring others. His ambitious approach is easy to quantify – he wants to qualify around six months early, in early 2020, and is on track to do so.

Now in his third year, Tomas is showing maturity by mentoring first-year apprentices and helping them navigate through the business successfully – he is a real role model to them. You can find out more about Tomas’s daily to-do list in our day in the life feature with him.

Commenting on Tomas’s win, Sewtec’s managing director, Mark Cook, said: “I’m thrilled for Tomas that all his hard work, effort and enthusiasm has been recognised with this award. It’s impressive to see an apprentice taking control of their development and push himself the way Tomas has.

“He’s an incredible young man. I’ve never heard a bad word said about him. We want people who fit our business and have the right attitude. Tomas exemplifies this.”

Tomas’s win at the 2020 event follows Sewtec’s success at last year’s Made In Yorkshire Awards, where we picked up the accolade in the digital engineering and technology category.