This year I had the pleasure of co-hosting the annual ceremony with UK Skills board member and celebrity chef Brian Turner CBE. More than 100 people were presented with the prestigious Gold Award which recognises and celebrates the accomplishments of all gold medal winners at WorldSkills UK National Competitions. The WorldSkills UK set of competitions, which UK Skills manages, are run in over 50 skill areas and test competitors knowledge and practical application against current industry benchmarks.

Ceremony highlights included a nail art fashion show and a musical theatre performance by Gold Award Winner Marina Kelman from Stow College. An exhibition was also on show at the event, which some of the outstanding work that has been created by Gold Award Winners was on display for guests to admire.

As well as getting the chance to meet with this year's competitors at the event I was delighted to see so many tutors, colleges, employers and competition organisers in attendance. It is largely thanks to their dedication and hard work after all that UK Skills is able to run WorldSkills UK competitions successfully year on year.

My co-host at the Awards, Brian Turner CBE, said: "Each and every one of this year's competitors are shining examples of the fantastic achievements that can be made through a dedication to training. Winning a Gold Award at a national level in any WorldSkills UK competition is a huge achievement and one which all competitors should be very proud of."

In addition to the Gold Awards I was also delighted to be able to honour two industry partners that run and help design the content for two of our competitions with the 'WorldSkills UK Partner of the Year' accolade. The winners were Skillsmart Retail who ran the Visual Merchandising Competition and Prospect who ran the Environmental Science Competition.

The 2011 cycle of WorldSkills UK Competitions are now open for entry. Please visit www.worldskillsuk.org.uk for more information.

Read other FE News articles by Simon Bartley:

Squad UK selection for WorldSkills London 2011 commences

Do your students have what it takes to be crowned the best in the UK?

Looking forward to skillscymru