Stephanie scoops Student of the Year at Merseysde Tourism Awards

29th June 2009

A student who trained at St.Helens College has scooped a top honour in The Mersey Partnership’s prestigious Annual Tourism Awards 2009.

Stephanie Arnold, who achieved a Level 2 NVQ qualification in Food and Drink Service after developing her skills in the college’s Colours Restaurant, was named as Merseyside’s best Student in Hospitality and Tourism.

Stephanie, 17, was nominated for an award by her lecturers at the college and after winning the St.Helens award, earlier in the year, she then went on to compete with other students on Merseyside. All entries were assessed by a panel of senior business figures and representatives of Tourist Boards.

The awards were presented at a special celebration held at the BT Convention Centre. The annual event is organised by TMP and sponsored by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), Merseytravel, Liverpool ONE, ACC Liverpool and BBC Radio Merseyside. It celebrates quality and excellence in a sector, which is worth £1.3bn to the local economy and supports 23,000 jobs across the City Region.

Janette Baird, lecturer in Hospitality, Travel and Tourism at St.Helens College says: “From the moment Stephanie came to study here it was clear that she would be an excellent student. Her talent simply shone through and it obviously impressed the award judges too. We are delighted that she has won this important award.”

St.Helens was represented in two other categories, with the Citadel short-listed for Performance Venue of the Year and Haydock Park Racecourse nominated for Tourism Marketing Project of the Year.

Councillor Richard Ferry, Executive Member for Urban Regeneration and Housing said: “We would like to congratulate Stephanie on her achievement and for being an impressive ambassador for the young talent we have here in St.Helens.

“Tourism plays a very important part in our local economy: creating jobs and generating wealth. Excellence and quality are key to our success and Stephanie and the other award nominees are great examples of this.”