Her training has consolidated and enriched her engineering knowledge. For the first 18 months, she gained experience in different divisions and is now completing six months of intensive training in the Airport Engineering Services subdivision of the Airport Authority Facilities Section.

She also learnt about ordinances - such as for escalators and lifts - in her posting with the General Legislation Division.

Outside of work, Ms Ting has participated in fund-raising for training and educating young engineers, organised career talks for Form Five students, and forums and symposiums for young engineers to share their experiences.

Ms Ting served in different institutions and associations where she helped promote the engineering profession.

'If you want to win the award you must have diversified development. You should not only concentrate on your work, you also need to care about society,' she said.

Maintaining such a balance is not easy. On top of their rigorous training programmes, graduate trainees must meet a range of requirements to be eligible for professional assessment or corporate membership under the HKIE.

Trainees must fulfil common core objectives that have been identified by the institution, including communication, safety and environmental issues, and contribution to the institution, core objectives identified by the HKIE and specific objectives proposed by the training company.

The programmes keep a close watch on trainee progress. Tutors manage their daily work and performance and sign monthly reports, and assigned engineering supervisors assess their progress in quarterly reviews.

Second-prize winner Mr Kum recently completed his two-year training programme at Towngas. He said his training was so demanding he was rarely without a memo pad, in which he constantly jotted down new concepts.

'My training gave me a lot of exposure,' said Mr Kum, who rotated among the marketing, accounting, production and engineering departments of Towngas. He is an assistant engineer in the commercial and industrial marketing department at the company.

'It's tough training, but I've learnt a lot,' he said.

In addition to gaining hands-on experience with pipe work and gas supply, as well as designing gas piping for commercial and industrial customers, Mr Kum spent three months working with a joint-venture in the mainland, a mandatory feature of the Towngas trainee programme. The company also sponsored his participation in the World Energy Congress 2004 in Sydney.

He said trainees should 'be well-equipped, have good time management, take the initiative and have a positive learning attitude'.

'Whether it's pleasant or not, you always learn something.'

Third-prize winner Ms Law said perseverance was key to a trainee's success. 'I always take the initiative to do more.'

As a graduate trainee in the Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO) of the Civil Engineering and Development Department, Ms Law underwent one year of training in geotechnical engineering, another year in government construction sites and, in her last year, was seconded to a private consultant to gain design office experience.

She now works as an assistant geotechnical engineer at the GEO in the Landslip Preventive Measures Division.

'In the short term, my training gave me the necessary knowledge to get the professional qualifications and, in the long term, a good foundation for professional development. I have in-depth understanding of geotechnical knowledge and broad exposure to different engineering disciplines, including safety, environmental and other civil and structural engineering areas,' Ms Law said.

But gaining knowledge and experience were not the only rewards for her hard work. A strong sense of satisfaction came from knowing her work was helping to ensure public safety, she said.

One of the challenges of her training programme was ensuring minimum disturbance to the public while conducting high-quality projects, such as land formation and slope upgrading work.

Ms Law said the HKIE valued engineers with a social conscience; a responsible engineer must use her professional knowledge to contribute to society.

For these diverse engineers, receiving the Trainee of the Year award is recognition of their efforts and their work for the HKIE.

Mr Kum said: 'This award proves I am on the right track to be a professional engineer.'

Ms Ting said: 'It gives me incentive and motivates me to do better.'

Ms Law said: 'It gives me confidence to achieve a larger goal, but I have to continuously improve myself.'

The HKIE Trainee of the Year Award is an annual event. The deadline for nomination this year is September 30.

MAKING THE GRADE

To gain corporate membership of the HKIE, graduate trainees must fulfil many training requirements, including:

Two to three years Scheme A training followed by one to two years responsible work experience, equalling a minimum of four years of training;

A minimum average of 7.5 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) days or 45 CPD hours per year;The identified common core objectives, core objectives and specific objectives;

The maintenance of graduate training log books.