Water Equipment Show

The Pump Centre returned to celebrate the UK's brightest young engineers

The Young Engineer Awards are always so important to the water industry to celebrate the sector’s brightest young engineers. The awards are one of the best ways that we can all contribute to the future of our industry, by placing the spotlight on new talent and helping further develop the careers of the younger generation of engineers.

Young people have been among the hardest hit by the consequences of Covid-19 with parts of their development and progression coming to an abrupt halt. Therefore, it was more important than ever to recognise the efforts and celebrate the achievements of the younger people within our sector.

The Pump Centre returned to the Telford International Centre for a member’s dinner and to host the award ceremony. It was a welcome opportunity to interact with everyone and congratulate the 2020 Young Engineer Award winners, alongside the 2022 winners, following the postponement of the award celebrations in 2020 due to Covid-19. 

For the 2022 awards, nominations were submitted from across the UK, and like in previous years the judging panel were overwhelmed by the talent on show. 

Bob Went, who is the Chair of the Young Engineer Awards judging panel commented: 

“We've been presenting these awards for over 15 years now and every year we have been pleasantly surprised with the ingenuity and innovation shown by the candidates in all the awards categories. It's been very rewarding to see the young engineers developing their skills and experience and taking on more responsibility than one may have anticipated. In so doing they will all be looking forward to an exciting and rewarding career in engineering.”

This year, the awards were presented in two categories for which young engineers were nominated by their companies. All shortlisted candidates were also eligible for the Derek Jackson Award which recognises a candidate whose outstanding achievements warranted special recognition.  

The 2022 winner of the Professional Young Engineer Award was Michael Byram, Design Engineer at Gilkes. After his apprenticeship Michael was selected by his company for degree sponsorship and was awarded an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering after a three year part-time course at The University of Bolton. Since graduating he has completed several major projects including one on the Modal Analysis of Centrifugal Impellers.

George Ford, Apprentice Mechanical Field Service Engineer at United Utilities was presented with the 2022 Apprentice Young Engineer Award. Alongside fantastic achievements in his company, he showed impressive work in his college project. As part of his apprenticeship, he was asked to design and manufacture a tool for use in his workplace. This was highlighted by his college as the best engineering project they had seen. 

Speaking about his Young Engineer Award win, George said:

‘This award will further my career because it sends out some recognition within my company and also with external companies. During the Water Equipment Show I had plenty of people from different companies coming up to me and congratulating me - it was nice to be recognised for my achievements’. 

The 2022 Derek Jackson Special Achievement Award was given to Chris Whitton from Anglian Water in recognition of his work on a project for a hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire. Outside of work, emphasising his strong interest in engineering, Chris rebuilt car engines to race in the British Championship, not only for himself, but also for other competitors.

At the awards ceremony the winners were presented with an engraved plaque, alongside a £250 gift voucher and a one-day Pump Centre training course worth up to £450. 

The Pump Centre would like to thank and congratulate all of the Young Engineers nominated for this year’s awards and we wish them all the very best in their future careers. 

Do you know someone worthy of a Young Engineer Award?

Nominations are open now until the 23rd December for next year’s awards - don’t miss out on your opportunity to recognise and support young talent within your company! 

Visit www.waterequipmentshow.com for more information, or download our nomination form here.