Female future leaders take centre stage at LIA awards

Pascale Yeates and Anna Moran triumph out of top ten LIA national graduates.

The two were chosen at the LIA’s national graduate recognition awards last week with Yeates taking out the LIA-Printing Industries Future Leaders Award and Moran winning the GAMAA-LIA National Graduate Scholarship Prize.

Greg Grace, chairman of the judging panel, said that this year’s entrants were as consistently dedicated and promising as those in the past. For Grace, they are proof that there is plenty of life left in the printing industry. “Thank God we’ve got kids of this calibre for our future,” he said. 

A career in printing was something of an accident for 25-year-old Bathurst-based Moran, who abandoned a course in marketing in search of something more practical. She found prepress and after gaining an apprenticeship with the Department of Lands, has not looked back.

Pictured: (l-r) LIA's Bob Lamont; award-winning graduates, Pascale Yeates; Anna Moran and CEO of Printing Industries, Philip Andersen.

“Every day is different in printing and there are so many different avenues you can take,” she said. “I also love the look and feel of the final product.”
After completing her Bachelor of Business from Charles Sturt University, Moran intends to travel to IPEX next year, along with completing leadership courses both nationally and internationally.

“I want to be in a leadership role but there is still so much to learn about the industry that I will keep my options open,” she said.

Yeates, also 25, who comes from a dynasty of printers, said that she was drawn to the industry as a result of her family’s on-going involvement. After completing a graphics prepress apprenticeship with Worldwide Printing, Malvern, she joined Y Media earlier this year and currently looks after commercial printing.

“I really enjoy the vibe of the printing industry and dealing with clients,” she said.

Both winners intend to stick around in the printing industry and are keen to move into management roles. Moran is a believer that there should more female influence.

“Printing is a male-dominated industry and we need more women to get into those management roles,” she said.

The full list of nominees included: Nicole Phelps, Douglas Mawson Institute of TAFE (SA); Aaron Sellers, Collotype Labels (SA); Tim Bright, Carter Holt Harvey (NSW); Brenton Hall, PMP (WA); Ben Rodd, Uniprint (WA); Karen Dovaston, Custom Printing Service (Vic); David Betts, Printpoint Australia (QLD) and Gareth Waldrone, GT Print and Desgn (QLD).