Locks and Security News: your weekly locks and security industry newsletter
17th April 2024 Issue no. 701

Your industry news - first

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The Golden Key Award

The Golden Key Award, sponsored by Lockdecoders, was announced last year in Locks and Security News and sister publication Locks & Security Magazine.

Open to anyone under the age of 25 who is currently working as a trainee or apprentice locksmith, it includes both traditional and auto locksmith trainees.

The purpose of the Golden Key Award is to honour those with inherent talents or natural born skills, as well as those who diligently apply themselves to the hard work of learning, so literally anyone with the 'right stuff' may equally be considered.

This prestigious award will be presented at the annual Locksmiths' Exhibition held in Nottingham 2nd & 3rd March, and also comes with a financial award of £500. This will be shared £300 to the trainee and £200 for the employer.

The winner will be chosen by a panel of three judges: Peter Southern from the award sponsor Lockdecoders; Mick Friend, Editor of Locks & Security Magazine; and Ron Cliff, an independent with many years experience as a working locksmith and trainer.

The Golden Key Award puts a spotlight on both employer and trainee and is likely to have only positive results in terms of the young person's future employment prospects.

According to Lockdecoders' Peter Southern:

"Locksmithing requires the acquisition of a number of skill sets. Many of these skills can only be learned the hard way, through a continuing process of trial and error until a raft of experience has been built up.

"Increasingly these days, additional skills must also be factored in, especially in the field of auto locksmithing where sophisticated diagnostics and computer encoding are typically employed alongside the more traditional copying and key cutting skills.

"It is our belief that all this hard work - in face of temptation from the easier route of merely attending 2 or 3 day 'locksmith' training courses - deserves to be acknowledged and rewarded, and for this reason we have inaugurated the Golden Key Award."

The winner will be announced on the Professional Locksmiths Forum on the day, in the issue of Locks and Security News immediately after the show and in Locks & Security Magazine March / April issue.

If you would like to nominate someone, contact: [email protected] 

30th January 2013