At 27, Chris Black thought he was too old to become an apprentice. Three years later, he's now 30 and a finalist for the Victorian Apprentice of the Year Award, and realises that it's never too late to start an apprenticeship.

Mr Black is a fitting-and-turning apprentice from Narre Warren and says, "I always thought of apprentices as 17 year-old boys."

Mr Black, who had always been interested in machines and mechanics, was working on the production line at Cadbury Schweppes when he saw a notice for a fitting and turning apprentice that invited mature-aged applicants to apply.

"I'd been doing shift work for six years and I needed a change. It turned out to be a really good change," he said.

It's a move he's never regretted, leading Mr Black to a situation he never expected.

Now in his fourth and final year of Certificate III in Engineering (Mechanical and Trade) at Swinburne University, Mr Black has recently been employed by his educational institution to teach second-year apprentice students.

He says he never contemplated teaching when he first started his apprenticeship.

"I had no idea. It was completely unexpected," Mr Black says of his new position, which he feels cements what he has learned himself.

Mr Black has proven himself as a skilled worker, winning Swinburne's Best Third Year Fitting and Machining Apprentice Award last year, and now his recent short listing for the Victorian Training Awards.

He acknowledges that "It's good to get a bit of recognition for the hard work I felt I'd been putting into it."

Minister for Skills and Workplace Participation, Jacinta Allen, MP - who will be hosting the Victorian Training Awards Presentation Dinner - congratulated Mr Black and said while working at Cadbury Schweppes his passion and dedicated was widely recognised.

The winners of the 2008 Victorian Training Awards will be announced at a gala presentation ceremony on Thursday 21st August, in Melbourne.

The Victorian Training Awards 

The Victorian Training Awards is an annual event that showcases and rewards excellence in the vocational education and training (VET) sector. 

Attended by some 1,000 guests each year, this prestigious event provides a beneficial interface where industry and the VET sector celebrate outstanding achievements by individuals and organisations.

The Awards recognise the important contribution made by apprentices, trainees, students, teachers, employers, training providers/RTOs and industry, in building a world-class VET system in Victoria. Thirteen awards are presented annually, delivering a pathway of achievement that spans across the VET system and industry. 

Winners of the Victorian Training Awards, except the Victorian Teacher/Trainer of the Year and the Victorian VET Client Service/Support Excellence Awards, may represent their state at the national level - The Australian Training Awards.

Those successful in this ultimate level of training excellence will be announced at the Presentation Dinner to be held on Thursday 20th November in Darwin.