40 Years of Formal Training Celebrations
The NZ Hairdressing Industry Training Organisation (HITO) celebrated 40 years of formal training qualifications in NZ with important guests and well-known players within the hairdressing industry on the last weekend of November at Te Papa.
What a weekend! Full of events, competitions, apprentice awards, networking and the launch of the new face of HITO.
Saturday saw a series of salon tours commence where guests were shown iconic Wellington salons and met salon owners and staff. An expo was opened at Te Papa that celebrated the past 40 years of formal qualifications in the hairdressing arena and focused on those people who had contributed to the industry in a major way. A selection of historic hairdressing related documents were on display for guests to reminisce about.
Over the two days, a Hairdresser in Training competition was on display where apprentices and trainees sent in entries to copy a Worldskills model hairstyle. Guests were encouraged to vote for their choice and a record number of 65 entries were received from entrants.
Saturday evening celebrations were an evening of award presentations. The winner of the Apprentice of the Year Award was named.
From seven areas within New Zealand an apprentice was chosen as the top apprentice for that area.
National Apprentice of the Year Nominees were:
| Northern |
Katherine Minty (Headlines Hairstylist, Whangarei) |
| Auckland |
Ardita Rakovica (Bettjemans, Auckland) |
| Midland |
Haley Barraclough (Ahead of Time, Tauranga) |
| Mid-Central |
Nikita Barker (Spectra, Palmerston North) |
| Central |
Dorien Van der Berg (Red's Hairdressing, Pukerua Bay) |
| Northern South |
Krystal Ward (Hair on Brighton, Christchurch) |
| Southern South |
Amber Parkinson (Total Image, Invercargill) |
From the seven finalists, two awards were given. A runner up Apprentice of the Year was chosen as well as the Apprentice of the Year. Runner Up was awarded to Nikita Barker and the overall winner of the 2008 Apprentice of the Year was Ardita Rakovica.
The awards evening also saw the Jasmine McBeth Memorial Scholarship being awarded. This year's recipientwas Joel Hornell from Rodney Wayne, Bayfair (Tauranga). This scholarship consists of an award of $3000.00 to be used for further training and development within the hairdressing industry. Also, KJ Scissors kindly donated a $1000.00 pair of specially fitted scissors for the recipient.
Sunday events were made up of a series of speakers, Worldskills Training and demonstrations running throughout the expo. The closing of the celebrations was held as a cocktail party on Sunday evening where the Hairdressers in Training competition award winners were announced. Judges from the industry awarded the top prize to Gemma Wigg from Bettjemans in Auckland with the runner up prize given to Alicia Hampton from Euphoria for Hair in Timaru who also won the People’s Choice Award. This competition drew praise from industry players and judges noted that the overall calibre of the entrants was very high. They also commented that this new competition was one of the best that they had seen over recent years as it encouraged training and put all competitors on the same footing.
The evening ended with HITO unveiling a new brand face for the future in terms of marketing materials and collateral.
For those of you who supported HITO over the weekend – thank you for making this such a memorable series of events. To the winners of awards and competitions – congratulations, we look forward to watching your career flourish over the next 40 years. And to all in the industry - here's to the next 10 years!
To see the gallery of all the photos from the evening click here