Letters, feedback, get it off your chest: 30 September 2009

This week the National Print Awards loses one supporter; meanwhile, Redfern isn’t the only Sydney suburb where phone books are still hanging around, say our readers.

Re: NSW and Queensland award entries close Friday

The new format of having the NPA as the ‘best of the best’ by allowing entry only through gold medal winners at the respective state awards is a good concept but unfortunately does not work for heat set web-printed magazines.

Web-printed magazines in Australia are concentrated in NSW with more than 80 per cent of publications printed in NSW. This is reflected in the number of awards won by NSW printers under the previous format for the awards.  In the previous two years before the new format, NSW collected 23 of the 26 medals awarded for the categories, heatset web-printed magazines with a cover price, and heatset web printing off line finished.

Clearly having only one entry from NSW qualify for the NPA is not going to allow some of the best work in the country to be considered for the NPA making a farce of the NPA for these categories. For example, a silver medal winner from the state awards could be the second best entry nationally but not even be considered for the NPA and with a separate panel of judges the gold winner in the state awards may not necessarily be chosen for a gold at the national awards.

Further, with dropping the category heatset web printing off line finished leaves only one category for heatset web magazine printers to enter.
 
Although I have supported the awards in the past, I no longer see it as a fair or rational process and will not be supporting it in its current format. May I suggest that in future all medal winners and entries that are highly commended from the respective state awards be included in the NPA for these categories which will enable a result that is more indicative of the ‘best of the best’.
 
Mark Rolls
Webstar

Re: There’s something about George Street: phone book saga continues

There's a lot around Camperdown/Newtown as well – we've had a pile out the front of our apartment block for weeks.

Laura Reed

And no, it’s not just the inner-west. One Elizabeth Bay resident sent us in the following photo. Looks a bit ominous ...

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Re: Selling your business made simple: David Ferraz

Great article.

Graham Hill