Tangerine celebrates success at prestigious Apprenticeship awards

Tangerine’s Juice Academy has been named as one of the North West’s best Apprenticeship Employers in the regional final of the National Apprenticeship Awards 2014.

Now in their eleventh year, The National Apprenticeship Awards celebrate the success of the country’s most exceptional apprentices and Apprenticeship employers. The winners were announced at a high profile awards ceremony organised by the National Apprenticeship Service, which was held in Manchester.

Tangerine is a 60-strong integrated communications consultancy, and since 2013 has recruited and upskilled six apprentices through its dedicated apprenticeship programme, The Juice Academy. Having fought off tough competition to be shortlisted, Tangerine was announced as highly commended in the Newcomer SME of the Year category at the North West ceremony.

The UK’s first ever industry-led social media apprenticeship programme, The Juice Academy, was created to increase youth employment and fill an industry-wide skills gap by training young professionals in the practical application of social media. The innovative, one-of-a-kind programme has trained 69 North West apprentices, and is currently recruiting for its seventh cohort.

Sandy Lindsay, Tangerine’s founder and chair, said: “As social media has advanced, the marketing community has experienced a growing skills gap in this field. In response, we tapped into the ‘born digital’ talent pool and upskilled them in all areas of commercial social media to work across our varied client portfolio. We’re successfully nurturing the digital talent of the future while meeting our business needs, and it’s great to be recognised for this achievement with an award.”

Nick Boles MP, Minister for Skills said: “The National Apprenticeship Awards are an excellent platform to recognise and celebrate the dedication shown by all of the excellent Apprenticeship employers and apprentices we have in this country.

“Those who were recognised during the ceremony are the best of the best, and I would like to congratulate them on their success.

“Apprenticeships continue to grow in popularity, and events like the National Apprenticeship Awards showcase just how beneficial they are for both employers and individuals. I hope everyone who received an award on the night is proud of their achievements, and continues to fly the flag for Apprenticeships throughout their career.”

Visit apprenticeships.org.uk or call 08000 150 600 to find out more about Apprenticeships.