A TRALEE-BASED tutor has won a prestigious international award at a ceremony in the UK.

Tara O’Halloran, Kerry ETB Training Centre Beauty Therapy Instructor, won International Tutor of the Year Award in a competition involving 37 countries and organised by the major industry and international accreditation bodies BABTAC and CIBTAC.

Tara, originally from Corbally in Limerick but now resident in Fenit, who has been working as a beauty therapy instructor at Kerry ETB Training centre in Monavalley for six years, received her international award at an event in Birmingham attended by industry professionals from around the world as well as the awarding bodies involved in education, training and accreditation for the beauty and related therapies industry.

Tara proudly received her award and recognition as International Beauty Therapy Tutor of the Year against 37 countries from all over the world. She described the event as “the thrill of a lifetime”.

She was selected over worldwide competition for the quality of her work with her students, how training was delivered and the achievements of her former trainees who now work in top quality spas and health centres throughout Kerry and beyond.

“I was absolutely delighted to be representing Kerry and Ireland and knowing that our work and our training centre in Tralee has all the facilities and professional standards to take on the world and win,” said Tara.

There are sixteen students on the course at Kerry ETB Training Centre every year and they qualify as Beauty Therapists, Body Therapists, Electrologists and Holistic Massage Therapists.

Owen O’Donnell, manager of Kerry ETB Training Centre and he said that everyone at the training centre is proud of Tara’s great achievement.

“It is great recognition for Tara and the standards we set here, our courses are delivered in a training environment that actually replicates the real work place and which is equipped to the best industry specified standards,” he said.