A Charles Darwin University electro-technology student from Katherine has won a coveted national industry award that carries a trip to Europe as part of the prize.

Fourth year apprentice Taylor Fishlock said she was “caught off guard” when named winner of the Industrial Apprentice of the Year award at the National Electrical and Communications Association excellence awards in Melbourne last week.

“I was pretty stoked, but they caught me a bit off guard. I hadn’t prepared a speech and it was a very formal event with hundreds of people in attendance,” says Taylor Fisher.

She was the only female among the nine finalists in the three apprentice divisions, and becomes the first female to win the “Industrial” category.

Ms Fishlock grew up on a cattle station and looked set for a career in the pastoral industry until the 2011 live cattle export ban prompted a shift in her thinking.

“Taking up the apprenticeship with M & K Lee Electrical (in Katherine) was a good move,” she says.

“There’s a lot of variety in what we do so I’m always learning, which keeps me thinking.”

Work has already allowed Taylor to travel throughout the Territory and beyond.

“We’ve been to Alice Springs a few times and to the Amberley RAAF base near Ipswich in Queensland,” she says.

“This week I’m in Ngukurr where we’re changing a back-up generator and installing new chillers at the community store.”

Winning the Apprentice of the Year award will allow Taylor to travel much further.

The prize includes $1000 and a trip to Germany next year for the Hannover Messe, one of the world’s major trade fairs for industrial technology.