AIRAH SA Apprentice Awards winners announced

AIRAH has hosted its annual South Australian Apprenticeship Awards, honouring the state’s finest up-and-coming HVAC&R technicians.

AIRAH CEO Sami Zheng, Affil.AIRAH, and AIRAH Membership Manager Liisa Hill were in Adelaide for the event, which recognised the brightest and hardest-working HVAC&R apprentices in South Australia.

“In choosing the candidates for the awards, the criteria focuses on those who have shown hard work, dedication and a keen interest in learning about HVAC&R,” Hill says. “These students have stood out from the rest and have been chosen by TAFE teachers because they believe they are worthy of winning an award.”

Award winners

It was a great night for Janamdeep (JD) Singh, Stud.AIRAH, from Industrial Air. Singh took out the Kirby Apprentice of the Year Award and was also awarded the Airefrig Scholarship Award.

Airefrig South Australian state manager Ben Bithell was on hand to present the scholarship award to Singh. The scholarship is particularly close to Bithell’s heart; he won it in 2009, opening gateways in a career that saw him move to Airefrig in 2016 as a sales engineer before taking on the state manager position.

“It’s great to see the emerging talent of 2024 being recognised and gives reassurance the industry will be in good hands in the future,” Bithell says.

“The Airefrig Scholarship Award can be career changing, giving recipients a confidence boost and opening doors across different parts of our industry through further learning. It’s rewarding to see this support making a real impact for future generations of HVAC&R professionals.”

The full list of award winners and nominees is below:

• Encouragement Award – Brett Meegan from Cool Moose Refrigeration
• Airefrig Scholarship Award – Janamdeep Singh from Industrial Air
• Runner Up – Joel Manuelli from Cold Logic
• Kirby Apprentice of the Year Award – Janamdeep Singh from Industrial Air. 

Nominees

• Brett Meegan, Stud.AIRAH, Cool Moose Refrigeration 
• Tyson White, Air Everywhere 
• Janamdeep Singh, Stud.AIRAH, Industrial Air 
• Austin Turner, Naracoorte Refrigeration 
• Harrison Cole, Butterfields Services 
• Joel Manuelli, Cold Logic 
• Clay Crompton, Career Employment Group Inc 
• Alexander McFarlane, Ramsey’s Refrigeration Service.  

Event sponsors

AIRAH thanks the South Australian Apprenticeship Awards sponsors:

• Platinum event sponsor and Apprentice of the Year Sponsor: Kirby  
• Silver event sponsor: Baltimore Air Coil
• Bronze event sponsor: Industrial Air  
• Runner-up Apprentice of the Year prize sponsor: Daikin 
• Encouragement Award sponsor: Controls Traders  
• Scholarship Award sponsor: Airefrig 
• Prize sponsors: Air Diffusion Agencies and CPS Australia.  

AIRAH also thanks TAFE SA and the AIRAH South Australian division committee for their support in organising the event.