A SECOND year apprentice painter and decorator with a building and redevelopment firm has beat off thousands of entrants to claim a top spot in one of the sector’s most prestigious trade awards.

City Building’s Lisa Murphy, 20, took third place in the Johnstone’s Young Painter of the Year national competition.

Respected by the industry throughout the UK, Johnstone’s Young Painter of the Year is a prestigious painting and decorating competition which celebrates young talent, offering eight heats nationwide culminating in a live final at the National Painting and Decorating Show.

After winning the regional heat of the awards, Lisa travelled to Coventry to take part in the national finals of the competition. She had to complete a series of tasks and demonstrate a wide range of skills including her ability to work from a detailed specification, which involved marking out a complex design. Due to Lisa’s outstanding finish to all tasks, she won third place and received an iPad and some painting and decorating tools as a prize.

Earlier this year, Lisa won the Apprentice of the Year prize at City Building’s 10th annual Apprenticeship awards ceremony at the City Chambers, having already collected the 2nd Year Painter and Decorator award earlier in the evening.

Her trophy cabinet also includes the Modern Apprentice of the Year award from the Trades House and she was also placed third in the Scottish Building Apprenticeship Training Council James Birnie award for craft excellence. This award recognises the talents of Scotland’s traditional craft apprentices undertaking any of the traditional four year SVQ level 3 programmes.

Lisa said: “I’ve had an incredible 12 months and to win third place at the Young Painter of the Year awards really ends the year on a high! It’s great to be nominated for these awards but to win them is really amazing. The Johnstone’s Young Painter of the Year competition is a huge opportunity to work with professional painters and meet people from the industry.

“Alongside the awards, working at City Building has meant I’ve already has a number of professional highlights including working on projects at the World Gymnastics Championships and the recent “Hello my name is Paul Smith” exhibition at The Lighthouse, Scotland’s national centre for architecture and design. Every day is different and my apprenticeship continues to give me the opportunity to gain more experience and learn new skills and techniques.”