Caitlin Collister has been announced as the winner of this year’s Appleby Academy 2018, earning a paid summer placement with the offshore law firm.

Each year Appleby invites Year 13 students to take part in the 12-week programme, where they work alongside a mentor from Appleby’s Isle of Man office to produce a report and presentation around a real-life business scenario.

The final saw the three finalists deliver informative and creative presentations to a panel of judges from the business community.

All three finalists were students from Ballakermeen High School with Caitlin Collister outlining her solution on supporting the mental wellbeing of staff, Justin Johnson’s presentation focused on delivering an effective induction process, and Zarlasht Nasir spoke on the important role business development plays in a business’ strategy.

Caitlin was selected after lengthy discussions from the judging panel. This comprised deputy chairman at Isle of Man Newspapers Trudi Williamson, director of Vannin Capital Nick Verardi, chief operating officer at the Chamber of Commerce Rebecca George and Chris Cope, partner in the dispute resolution department of Appleby’s Isle of Man office.

Chris Cope said: ’Congratulations to everyone who took part. Once again the work produced by the students was remarkable, and it was wonderful to see such a high-standard of interesting and innovative presentations from the finalists. This was one of the closest finals. Caitlin showed true out-of-the-box thinking and realistic solutions thoroughly thought through and delivered confidently. ’

Junior Achievement chief executive Sue Cook said: ’Giving students the opportunity to work alongside the team at Appleby gives them tremendous insight into an international office.

’This is a great chance for students to work on their problem-solving skills while building confidence in public speaking, and demonstrating their ideas clearly - all of which are required regardless of your chosen career path. It also is an ideal opportunity for them to gain insight into a global organisation and work alongside some highly experienced professionals. I would like to thank Appleby for offering this opportunity.’

Winner Caitlin Collister with judges Trudi Williamson, Nick Verardi, Rebecca George and Chris Cope