Josh Pendreigh has worked in the forestry industry for four years and is employed by Southern Cross Forest Products.
He was named the Southern Wood Council's 2013 Modern Apprentice of the Year in Balclutha on Friday. .
The 21-year-old told the Otago Daily Times he had always had an interest in the timber industry and enjoyed the challenges it offered.
Forestry work was ''hands on'' and the forestry industry training organisations offered good courses.
Mr Pendreigh plans to gain level 5 qualifications and one day be an industry tutor.
The Southern Wood Council and Competenz Southern Region Forestry Industry Awards also incorporated the graduation of almost 100 Otago-Southland forestry trainees.
Todd McDonald and Nathan Aitken were the other finalists for the apprentice-of-the-year title.
Speaking at the awards, Associate Primary Industries Minister Jo Goodhew said it was vital that forestry workers were equipped with the right skills to enhance the industry.
She said the industry in Otago-Southland was ''relatively young'' and had huge potential for growth.
The Breaking Out Certification programme was a good initiative to address a dangerous part in the industry and provide practical guidance to contractors, Mrs Goodhew said.
Breaking out - the process of gathering logs and hauling them to skid sites - was identified by ACC as one of the two biggest causes of harm in the forestry sector, and the certification project was initiated to target the problem.
ISafety Ltd managing director Don Ramsay said the programme began in Nelson, and is slowly being introduced to forests across the country.
Forestry workers Matt Winmill and Daniel Jackson, of Waikouaiti-based Gillion Logging, were the first in the Otago-Southland region to achieve the certification.
On May 1 this year, the Forest Industry Training and Education Council (Fitec) merged into another industry training provider, Competenz.
Fitec was New Zealand's industry training organisation (ITO) for forestry, wood manufacturing (sawmilling, wood panels, and pulp and paper), furniture and biosecurity.
Competenz was the ITO for manufacturing, engineering and the food and beverage industries. At the time, Fitec chief executive Ian Boyd said the main drivers of the merger were the decreasing numbers of trainees (and therefore less funding) for the organisation and a push by the Government for fewer ITOs.
Southern Wood Council chairman Grant Dodson said 185 national certificates were achieved by forestry workers south of the Waitaki River last year.
