Klaudia scoops £2,500 prize at national poultry awards

A Norfolk poultry trainee has won a top industry award with two fellow students selected as finalists.

Klaudia Roszkowksa was named Zoetis Poultry Trainee of the Year at the British Poultry Council Awards held at the Houses of Parliament.

She completed a Level 3 work-based Diploma in Agriculture earlier this year with Poultec Training in Mattishall.

Warren Knights and Samantha Alexander were also nominated by their tutor at Poultec and selected as finalists following interviews held earlier this year.

Miss Roszkowksa took home a £2,000 training grant and a £500 prize from Poultry World.

Phil Harris, manager at Cargill Hatcheries where she works, said: 'It became clear that Klaudia had an appetite to learn, and develop both her and the hatchery performance as a whole. Her relentless determination to seek answers made her a stand-out candidate for future development.'

In 2015 she become a technical incubationist; dealing with customers and claims and monitoring the biosecurity and hygiene of the birds in her care.

Warren Knights works for EC Drummond growing broiler chickens. When his previous boss and owner of the farm started a long chemotherapy recovery process, Warren had to step up to the mark to keep the business going.

Tim Bright, from the company, said: 'Without Warren we would have had to shut the farm down. He has shown the dedication to become a successful poultry manager.'

In his new role as farm manager he is looking to complete his Level 3 work-based diploma.

The third finalist Samantha Alexander has worked in the poultry industry for over 15 years, and completed her Level 3 work-based Diploma with Poultec in October. She said: 'I'm very passionate about bird behaviour, and welfare.'

She started working for Glenrath Farms on the largest free range farm in Europe. There, she ran a 32,000-bird unit for two years before moving on to work at Heal Eggs in Shropshire.

She plans to study for a MSc in Applied Poultry Science.

Poultec Training, founded by Edward Bales in 1999, delivers apprenticeships in many areas such as agriculture, business administration, butchery, hairdressing, and engineering.