Sparsholt College and University Centre Sparsholt is delighted to announce that two of its five learners which have been recognised for their achievements and nominated as finalists have won awards at England and Northern Ireland’s prestigious Land-based & Environment Learner Awards (LBEL) 2024.  

Sparsholt College and University Centre Sparsholt students – Adam Burgess, Alastair Gamblin, Callum Tingley, Craig Jordan, and Jolene Orlowski were selected as finalists from nominations across England and Northern Ireland which were chosen by an independent judging panel consisting of esteemed and influential figures across the land-based, veterinary nursing and environment sector. 

Adam Burgess, a previous Level 3 student in Land and Wildlife Management, who has since started an Aquaculture and Fishery Management degree at University Centre Sparsholt was nominated for the category ‘Aquaculture’.  

Alastair Gamblin, a previous Level 3 student in Animal Management was nominated for the ‘Animal Care and Management’ category. 

Callum Tingly, an Underkeeper Apprentice, was put forward for the category of ‘Environment, Conservation, Game and Wildlife’.  

Craig Jordan, a Sports Turf Apprentice, was nominated for the relevant ‘Sports Turf and Greenkeeping’ category. 

Jolene Orlowski, a BSc (Hons) Wildlife Ecology and Conservation graduate from University Centre Sparsholt, was nominated for the category of ‘Environment, Conservation, Game and Wildlife’.    

Sparsholt College Group were extremely proud to see two out of the five nominees, Adam Burgess and Craig Jordan, go on to be named as winners at the event, as an apprentice or learner in their selected category.  

Mark Treagust, Vice Principal (Curriculum) for Sparsholt College said: 

“A massive congratulations not only to our five finalists from Sparsholt College Group, but also, to all the other students who were nominated for these prestigious awards. It was a fantastic evening celebrating the talents of learners from Further Education, Higher Education and Apprenticeship provision in the land-based sector along with recognising the support that land-based colleges and universities give to the industry, providing employers with a highly trained, growing workforce, equipped to meet their needs.” 

Applications to join Sparsholt College and University Centre Sparsholt in September 2025 are now open. Find out more about how to apply, here: How to Apply – Sparsholt College and University Centre Sparsholt 

About the Land-based and Environment Awards 2024 

The Land-based & Environment Learner (LBEL) Awards are organised by leading land-based training & qualification body, LANTRA and the representative body for land-based colleges and universities, Landex, with the aim of celebrating and rewarding the industries’ top candidates. 

The awards evening, which took place at the National Conference Centre in Birmingham, was hosted by Garden Designer and Television Presenter, Danny Clarke. Danny runs his own bespoke garden design company, the Black Gardener, and has appeared on numerous, successful, gardening themed television programmes.     

Nominees were considered from a wide variety of industries including agriculture, aquaculture, animal care and management, arboriculture, forestry and woodland management, environment, conservation, game and wildlife management, equine and farriery, floristry, landscape and horticulture, land-based engineering, sports turf and greenkeeping and veterinary nursing.   

The awards were open to all further/higher education learners and aspiring apprentices, who studied in land-based and environment sectors between September 2022 and September 2023.