Yes there is a special award for plumbers and Petros Goutziomitros, from Cheltenham, is the 2009 recipient of the Rose Curtis Legacy Award as part of the Master Plumbers’ and Mechanical Services Association of Australia (MPMSAA) Gold Medal and Training Awards.
The award was presented by Jenny Mikakos MP at the Melbourne Arts Centre.
For more than 100 years, the awards have been a platform for nurturing and acknowledging talent.
Now under the banner of the Australian Plumbing Industries Educational Foundation (APIEF), the awards are in line with its charter of “supporting the pursuit of excellence”. Petros says the award has encouraged him to start a business.”Winning this award gives me the confidence to pursue a career as a plumber. I feel anything is possible, as long as you’re willing to put in 100 per cent and never give up,” he says.
“I am passionate about what I do and, most of all, I get the job done in a professional manner.” The MPMSAA’s President, Bill Durham, says the awards, while steeped in tradition, are very much a part of the MPMSAA’s and the APIEF’s mission to support the pursuit of excellence.
“The longevity of these awards is testament to the need for young people to be recognised and rewarded for their achievements,” he says.
“Since the inception of the MPMSAA, we have found that supporting education is necessary to maintain a high degree of competency in the industry, whether it is an apprentice who has entered the workforce or a secondary school student who is yet to decide on a future career path.”