It is that time of year again when temporary workers take their place in the spotlight.

Hundreds of nominations were received from agencies across the UK, and an eight-strong panel of judges, including Recruiter editor DeeDee Doke, selected one winner from each industry sector on 2 May. The overall winner will be announced at a champagne reception at the House of Commons on 6 June, as part of National Temporary Workers Week, which runs from 4-8 June.

Recruiter highlights those temporary and contract staff who came out on top in each category, and are in the running to win the 2007 overall prize.

Kerryann Wells has been named Agency Nurse of the Year. Wells, of London-based Geneva Health, has been working in paediatric intensive care and accident and emergency nursing for nine months.

She came to Britain from her native Australia and, after a spell working at a major children's hospital in London, she took the unusual step of working with a young homecare patient who needs 24-hour care, due to a genetic disorder.

The relationship has developed and Wells has earned high praise from the boy's mother. "Kerryann is an amazingly rigorous and thorough nurse. She thinks and probes about every single, minute aspect of [his] care. She treats [him] with the utmost respect and kindness."

Charlotte Rowlands stood out in a male-dominated environment to win the Diversity Plus Award: she is a binwoman!

Rowlands, who was nominated by Wise Employment's Taunton office, is the first-ever recipient of the award, supported by Jobcentre Plus. The story gets even better for Rowlands — she has just been placed on a temp-to-perm contract.

"It's a great honour to be nominated and also to be one of only a few female refuse collectors in the country," Rowlands told Recruiter.

A basic skills teacher at a young offenders' institution, Eddie Sarbeng is Supply Teacher of the Year. Nominated by Select Education in Reading, Sarbeng is originally from Ghana but has become "indispensable" at the institution at Huntercombe, Oxfordshire where he has been working since arriving in the UK in 2005.

Sarbeng's mantra at Huntercombe has been "show respect, gain respect". He has intervened in an incident of bullying between classmates, leading to one young man being removed to the Intensive Support Unit. Far from viewing it as a disciplinary measure, the young man sought out Sarbeng to shake his hand and tell him that "he had done the right thing by sending him there".

He has recently been offered a position as permanent cover teacher at Huntercombe.

Seven-and-a-half years in the cab has not dimmed the enthusiasm of Malcolm Davidson, named Agency Driver of the Year.

Davidson, of Driver Hire's Ashford, Kent, branch, continues to "go the extra mile" for his clients.

An example of this is when he worked late to load for the morning following heavy snow, then arrived early the next morning so he could leave on time. It was only after he returned from his assignment later that day that he realised both the client's permanent drivers had not made it to work, so he took out further loads.

"He is by far the best and most reliable driver I have used from any agency and as soon as I heard he was available for this year I have booked him up for another summer season with us," said one client.

Michael Ross, the Office Worker of the Year, has been burning holes in his shoes since joining Adecco's York branch.

Ross, who initially joined as a temporary waiter, was placed in an administration role after Adecco suggested he was not being used to his full potential.

Since then, he has impressed as cover for a managing director's PA and is now working long-term for the Alzheimer's Society. His director said: "If anyone came near Mike to poach him, I would tie him to his chair so he couldn't leave." An example of his commitment includes running for a 6.45am train so he could give his boss some important paperwork.

A rigorous approach to health and safety helped David Burrows win the Technical, Engineering and Construction Contractor of the Year.

Burrows, representing Resourcing Solutions of Ruscombe, Berkshire, was assigned to site-manage the underground station at Terminal Five at Heathrow Airport.

An inherent part of this role was the paramount importance of health and safety issues. Burrows took on the mantle of becoming Tubelines' health and safety representative on the overall project's Safety Leadership team — a role he took on in a voluntary, unpaid capacity, implementing new safety systems and becoming an "exemplary" leader.

High levels of care for a terminally ill young man helped Alison Smith win the Care Worker of the Year. Smith, who works on behalf of Hull-based National Locums, chose agency work because she wanted a career change after working in retail.

Since working as a carer, she has organised a programme of social events for a terminally ill young man, which has brought a "great deal more variety and enjoyment to his life".

Interim management is currently booming and there surely can be no better example than Paul Brown, who won Interim Manager of the Year.

Brown was placed by Albemarle Interim Management on a six-month contract with the Forensic Science Service, which provides forensic support for a variety of crimes. He "provides the model approach for working with interim managers", transforming the culture of the staff and the organisation's performance.

Caring for an autistic boy who lost his father was key to Andrew Denham winning Agency Childcare Worker of the Year.

Denham, who was placed by Swiis UK's Liverpool branch, took care of the boy after the bereavement, when he was overcome with grief and bewilderment.

He said: "I'm just glad he trusted me to be the person he could share all those emotions with and that he trusts me to help him for the funeral next week."

Carole Tilbrook disproved the old adage that locums do not adapt quickly to new teams, while also showing care and dedication to her patients.

Tilbrook has, among other things, helped reduce patient waiting times from over an hour to 35 minutes on average at one of her placements. Her popularity has become so great that hospitals have started asking for her by name, rather than just asking if there is someone to fill a position.

Kathleen (Katie) Spadafora has made quite an impression after arriving in the UK from Canada: so much so that she has won the Agency Social Worker of the Year Award.

Despite only having five months' experience working as a social worker in Toronto, she made a big impact in the London Borough of Havering after being placed there by Synergy Group, where she helped implement crucial projects and shown herself to be an excellent team player.

The Stepping Stone Award is a new accolade for those who have excelled in temp-to-perm placements.

Waldemar (Waldek) Kokorzycki is one of two Eastern European category winners this year, the Pole being nominated by Oxford-based Champion Recruitment.

Kokorzycki far exceeded the workload expected of him as a warehouse worker, and was offered a permanent position as a PC operative in January this year.

"We had no opening for a full-time employee within our department but on hearing that Waldek was looking elsewhere for permanent work I realised how important he had become in our operation," said Mike Denny, his team leader at Abingdon-based RM Education.

Another Eastern European, Martin Kadlecik, was named Agency Industrial Worker of the Year. Kadlecik, a Slovak, has acted as unofficial spokesman for a group of 19 Slovak workers at World of Leather in Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

He was nominated by EU Recruitment Link, a firm based in Suffolk which recruits from the EU. Kadlecik, who is tri-lingual, shepherded the group of workers around the British rail system after chaos on the trains made getting to their accommodation difficult.

Since arriving in the UK, Kadlecik has acted as spokesman for the workers and has since taken on the position of line manager.

The final sector winner is James Fitzpatrick Ellis for IT contractor of the year.

Ellis, who was nominated by Penta Consulting, has been working on-site at JPMorgan Cazenove since September 2005.

Ellis is "a shining example of an excellent IT contractor", in the words of Penta's on-site account manager, Nicola Swatton. He is always the first to volunteer when there is extra work or anti-social hours, according to Swatton.

"You need to have confidence in your technical decisions and occasionally stand your ground in the face of some pretty intense pressure," explained Ellis.

The category winners this year have shown themselves to be worthy contenders for the overall prize. As Marcia Roberts, chief executive of the REC, puts it: "We never cease to be inspired by our One in a Million winners and their dedication to the work assignments they undertake."