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Industry celebrates at Media Super National Print Awards

Offset Alpine Printing took out a trio of Gold Awards
 

The 32nd National Print Awards Presentation Dinner had an extra air of celebration about it with guests fresh from the exhibition floor at PrintEx15 taking the opportunity to celebrate with colleagues, competitors and friends as the industry recognised its brightest and best.

The event at Waterview in Bicentennial Parkprovided the perfect conclusion to the preceding three days of intensive business, with its stunning parkland location, surrounded by ponds and lakes,providing a relaxing backdrop to celebrations.

In opening the evening, National Print Awards Chair Susan Heaney said PrintEx had demonstrated what an exciting time lay ahead for the industry, with new processes and products opening up new worlds of possibility for print service providers. This, she said, was reflected in the new Media Super National Print Awards which had been ‘rebadged, reorganised, redesigned, relaunched and ultimately revitalised’.

“Throughout the years, the National Print Awards has kept pace with a changing market, remaining a beacon to those striving for excellence while constantly changing to reflect industry transformation. The Awards are a testimony to the energy and commitment of each and every entrant, in particular those who take home a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal tonight, and I congratulate them all,” she said.

The medal tally

Then, it was on to a brisk presentation,led by bright media personality Emma Freedman and Media Super’s Patrick Horneman, who proved to be a surprisingly dynamic duo.

A total of 25 Gold, 37 Silver and 32 Bronze Awards were presented, across 17 newly revised categories, several of which had sub-sections to cater for different processes within the one broad category.

Leading the night’s tally with three Gold Awards was Offset Alpine Printing, NSW, followed by Adams Print in Victoria and Collotype Labels Australia, South Australia, both of whom took home two of the top Awards.

On a State level, achievements were remarkably even, with Victoria and NSW scoring seven Gold Awards apiece – Victoria was just ahead on the total tally, with 30 medals to 27 – South Australia winning five Gold, Queensland three, WA two and Tasmania one of the top awards.

The Judges' Award for Excellence, presented by NPA Chairman of Judges Luke Wooldridge, was awarded to Advance Press, Western Australia, for ‘Rio Tinto 2014 Calendar’. Designed by Marco Dabala, this beautiful calendar was handled completely in-house by Advance Press, who printed the job on White A Artboard from Spicers.

Special Awards

After short presentations by ANZFTA and the LIA, the night moved to the sponsor and major Awards, kicking off with three Gold Sponsor Awards from Fuji Xerox, Heidelberg Australia and Currie Group.

The Fuji Xerox Effectiveness Award once again brought a new slant to the evening, recognizing a job not only on the basis of its excellent print quality, but also for its effectiveness in achieving the client’s objectives.

This year, the Award was presented to Chris Norgate from McKellar Renown Press, for their entry ‘BMW Welcome Pack – 2014 Connected Edition’.  Produced for designer One 20, the pack was printed by McKellar Renown on a combination of Knight Vellum, Hanno Art Silk, Sirio Transclucent and Fuji Xerox Presentation Film, supplied by K.W. Doggett Fine Paper, Spicers and Fuji Xerox. It was finished by McKellar Renown and Marvel Bookbinding, with embellishment done by Avon Graphics.

The coveted Heidelberg Australia Award for Excellence was this year presented to Kelvin Gage from Dominion Print Group, NSW, for his company’s entry, ‘What we mean when we say…’, which also took out a Gold Medal in the Self Promotion category earlier in the evening.

This longstanding award from one of the event’s founding sponsors, is judged from gold medal winning entries across all categories and is awarded for the achievement of overall print excellence.

The 2015 winning entry, a beautiful multi-piece presentation, was designed by Dominion Print Group and printed by the company on Sovereign A2 and Mowhawk Via from K.W. Doggett Fine Paper and BJ Ball Papers respectively. It also features impressive embellishment, handled by Avon Graphics and Allkotes.

Like the Awards themselves, the next Award was slightly rebranded this year as the Currie Group Award for Brilliant Images in Print, and was presented in recognition of the critical importance of images in so many printed applications. Judged from all NPA entries, it rewards ‘brilliant images, perfectly reproduced and used in an innovative way to enhance the effectiveness of the printed piece’.

This year, it was taken out by perennial NPA gold medal winner Michael Warshall from NULAB, for their entry ‘Mens Shed Photography’. This outstanding book, designed by the client, Craig Wetjen, was digitally printed by NULAB on Flexbind Lustre from Holmberg. NULAB also handled the finishing.

A highlight of the evening were the two new Awards presented by the event’s major supporter, Media Super, which not only extended the accolades to people as well as print, but neatly paid tribute to both achievement and potential.

The inaugural Media Super Industry Legend, designed to recognize the contribution to the print industry by an outstanding individual, was awarded to Malcolm Buckner of The Buckner Group, Queensland.

The Media Super Young Executive Award was contended by state finalists Sean Thompson (NSW), Claire Hamilton (QLD), Wil Stevens (SA), Jeremy Scott (TAS), Ellie Savige (VIC) and Rio Chard (WA).

And it’s over for another year…

With Awards out of the way, guests were treated to outstanding entertainment from one of Australia’s leading ladies of song, the beautiful and talented Wendy Matthews, who brought some of her most memorable melodies to a soulful performance which kept the audience enchanted. 

Later, guests took to the dance floor to the stylings of event band the Skylarks, celebrating an event where industry achievement took centre stage, friendships were renewed and revitalized, and a week of information and inspiration was brought to a fitting conclusion. 

Click here for the Medal winners

Click here for the list of finalists 

Click here to view the Awards book

 
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