New-look Print Awards loses major sponsor

Search is on for a new major sponsor as Agfa bows out of the National Print Awards.

According to Garry Muratore, marcom manager for Asia Pacific, Agfa still shares a good relationship with the awards.

“It was an amicable decision,” he said. “We decided that in light of Agfa’s repositioning as a hi-tech inkjet manufacturer that the print awards was no longer the best avenue for our marketing.”

Agfa has been a major sponsor of the awards for the past 25 years, along with Heidelberg and PaperlinX. A spokeswoman for Heidelberg confirmed that the company would still be continuing its sponsorship; as did Rohan Dean at PaperlinX Merchants.

Scott Telfer, NPA chairman, said that there were already plans for attracting a new sponsor to take Agfa’s place.

“We are in discussion with a number of other potential sponsors and anticipate announcing the start of a new partnership in the very near future,” he said.

Telder said that after a long relationship with Agfa, those involved in the awards were “disappointed that Agfa will not be continuing its major sponsorship.”

“However, we fully understand and respect the company’s decision and would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their outstanding support for the Awards, and the industry, over the past 25 years,” Telfer added.