Green printing proves gold for Finsbury

South Australia’s largest commercial printer, Finsbury Green, shows that being a green printer doesn’t mean sacrificing quality as it takes the biggest number of awards at this year’s SA/NT PICAs.

Competition was fierce at the Adelaide Hilton Ballroom last Friday, 8 October, 34 Gold, 31 Silver and 31 Bronze medals were awarded. Of that number, Finsbury Green took out six golds, along with both the Heidelberg Excellence in Craft Award and the Zero Waste SA Improved Resource Efficiency Award for Most Sustained Achievement.

Finsbury was closely followed by two hot contenders, Newstyle Printing, and Carolyn Cagney’s Fivestar Print, which both brought home five golds. (For a full list of winners, see here).

According to Rod Wade, national environmental and technical manager, told Print21 that the stellar result reinforces the company’s decision to become an early adopter of green practices. “Green printing is the same quality as regular printing,” he said. “There is still a bit of a myth with the general public, who think that green is more expensive and lower quality; but as our company demonstrates we’re printing as well as we ever have done.”

Judging the entries was tough due to the innovation displayed, said Peter Mansfield, general manager of Printing Industries SA/NT. “The winners were also able to showcase new processes and reflect the significant technological and behavioural changes the industry has experienced over the past five to ten years, such as reducing the industry’s environmental footprint,” he said.

Pictured: Finsbury Green's executive director, Mark Orel, son of the late Ernie Orel, who founded the company, at last week's awards.

Chairman of the PICA organising committee, Peter Lane OAM, congratulated printers in both South Australia and the Northern Territory on the quality of their work. “The number of entries into the Awards continues to rise year on year, with a new record of over 370 entries being received in 2010. The number of companies choosing to put in entries also continues to rise, reflecting the value that companies place on the prestige of winning a PICA Award,” he said.

“In all, 26 companies have shared in the honour of winning the 99 awards presented for 2010. This reinforces the quality of work being produced by the industry at large in South Australia and the Northern Territory.”

Both Finsbury Green and Fivestar Print are profiled in the upcoming Adelaide-themed October edition of Print21 magazine, out soon.