Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia’s (HVIA) prestigious 2024 National Awards – which celebrate the achievements of the nation’s heavy vehicle industry – have opened for nominations.
This year the awards include three new categories – replacing and expanding on the National Apprentice of the Year prize. The new categories are Apprentice Technician of the Year, Apprentice Trailer and Body Builder of the Year and the penultimate Heavy Vehicle Apprentice of the Year.
Each apprentice category award winner will receive a hosted VIP Supercars experience thanks to NTI and TruckAssist.
Winners of the Product Innovation Award, sponsored by Wurth, and the Safety Innovation Award, sponsored by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, will each receive an advertising and editorial package valued at more than $7000 in the 2025 Brisbane Truck Show official program.
HVIA will also present a cheque for $2000 to the community initiative that wins the Community Leadership Award, sponsored by Caltex.
HVIA CEO Todd Hacking said the awards are a fitting celebration of the Australian heavy vehicle industry’s capacity to provide innovative and safe solutions for the vital road transport task.
“The HVIA National Awards recognise that freight is not just a seven-letter word; it’s food, it’s sanitisation, it’s essential fuels, it’s equipment for our hospitals, parts for our machines, the construction materials that build roads, schools, and our shelter – literally the clothes on our backs,” he said.
“And whether your role is making a truck or a trailer, selling it, repairing it, making a component or piece of technology to make the task safer or more efficient, these awards recognise the vital contribution you and your company play in delivering on this incredibly important task for the nation.”
Hacking adds the expansion of the awards’ apprentice categories recognises the vital role young tradespeople play in securing the future of heavy vehicle manufacturing in Australia.
“Every year we’re honoured to witness more of our members’ extraordinary innovation and ingenuity being revealed,” he said.
“It also brings us great joy to recognise some amazing young industry people at the start of what we expect to be a long and fulfilling career in the heavy industry.”
Under the new awards line-up, the Apprentice Technician of the Year directly replaces the old Apprentice of the Year award, honouring final-year and graduating technicians working across the heavy vehicle industry for dealerships, OEM’s, operators and other HVIA member companies.
The new Apprentice Trailer and Body Builder of the Year award covers the vital trades securing the future of heavy vehicle manufacturing in Australia.
It includes specialists Certificate III in Automotive Manufacturing Technical Operations – Bus, Truck and Trailer, but also member employees whose trade might be fabricator, boiler maker, fitter and turner or other trades directly applicable to heavy vehicle manufacturing and body-building.
The Heavy Vehicle Apprentice of the Year is the new major award, open to all trades employed by the heavy vehicle industry.
All nominees of the first two categories will automatically be considered, however, the award is also open to final-year apprentices graduating in specialist roles such as auto-electrician, panel-beater, spray painter, draftsman, parts interpreter, engineer, refrigeration mechanic, warehouse and logistics, etc.
“This new award recognises that Australia’s innovative world-class heavy vehicle manufacturing industry depends on an emerging talent pool with the skills to produce vehicles built to tackle Australia’s unique and diverse freight task,” Hacking said
Nominations can be lodged here, and close on Friday, August 2.
Winners will be announced at the 2024 HVIA National Awards Gala Dinner to be held on Thursday, December 5 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
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