Tradie of the Year contender, a Champion of uteaoke!

The task of running this years’ Tradie of the Year quest and awards program is sometimes inspiring and most times absolutely hilarious. I am Rob, and its my job to review and curate the entries. One strong contender this year is a guy called “Elbow”. He is apparently a really good bloke (standard prerequisite). He is a plumber by day and a champion of “uteaoke” by night.

I had never heard of uteaoke, but before I could allow the entry, I had to be certain it was a suitable credential for a person aspiring to the title of Tradie of the Year. I have never googled anything that only returned 4 results, so I had to ask Elbow’s mates. They happily explained that our entrant has put a name to a weird, but apparently not entirely uncommon, tradie practice. He likes to drive around at night in his ute, singing karaoke and posting his performances on snapchat – hence “uteaoke”! I can see someone setting up chat rooms and Facebook pages now, to compare and comment on tradie uteaoke performances. If Google is anything to go by, I can assure them they won’t have any trouble registering the page name.

As you can imagine, the range of quality entries for the title of Tradie of the Year is impressive. They prove that our tradies are big and beautiful, funny, rude, odd, caring, community minded and family oriented, social human beings. One bloke’s claim to the title is that “when I am on site, there is no need for a crane”. I thought bullshit, sure thing. Then one of his mates posts a video of him lifting whole wall frames into place. Another fella posts a photo of himself holding a sign that says, “I like pussy”. I thought to myself, nothing unique there, but it turns out his post has attracted a very strong following.

It is really hard to say what it will take to win this quest. The standout at the moment, is the high number of female entries. Apparently, around 2% of Australian tradies are girls, yet currently nearly 50% of our contestants are highly qualified, well credentialed, skilled and beautiful women, with engaging stories to tell. Judging will definitely be tough.

While the quality of the entries for the MIBT Tradie of the Year is strong, it is the supporters that really bring gold to the competition. They are mischievous, passionate, inappropriate, opinionated and very, very funny. The cast of comments can be distracting, but they make for such good reading I just can’t help myself from getting caught up in the fervour and goodwill.

If you want to join in the fun as a supporter, just like our Tradie of the Year Facebook page to keep up-to-date. If you want to cast your own comments or likes and generally keep up with the entrants and their supporters, the “Vote for your Tradie” tab on our page will take you through to the gallery. You can nominate yourself or a friend (ask permission first) to enter Tradie of the Year, by simply telling us something befitting a Tradie of the Year and posting an original and engaging photo. You can enter by posting directly on our page Status, or use the form on the gallery page.

View the entry gallery here . . .