Print Out Loud was the slogan for this year’s printing awards held at the prestigious Langham hotel in Auckland on Friday and a well-dressed audience of printers and partners took the advice to heart in a good natured if sometimes raucous celebration of print and its processes. Patrick Howard was pleased to cross the Tasman to attend.
The Pride in Print annual awards is a core element in the New Zealand industry’s calendar. It is a unique event on many levels, enjoying great support across the broad industry. It is a barometer of the confidence of printers and a measure of how well the industry is travelling.
If this year’s Pride in Print is anything to go by, after some very tough years, the New Zealand industry is feeling empowered once more. There was a distinct air not only of survival but of revival in the Great Room at the Langham where more than 800 industry professionals and their partners dressed up in black tie and glamorous frocks to recognise the best of their industry.
Yes, they might have become a bit loud in their celebrations. Yes, there was good natured banter about the number of gold medals awarded. But natural Kiwi generosity and respect ensured that when the Apprentice of the Year, Gareth Hilton of Rapid Labels, was on stage making his understandably nervous Thank You, there was attentive response.
And when Joan Grace, CEO of Print NZ, her voice cracking with flu and emotion, asked the industry to take up her fight to make its voice heard in the corridors of Wellington, you could have heard a pin drop.
But with the announcement of the Supreme Winner – Logick Print & Graphics of Auckland, for a Jacobs Creek Logo sheet in a combination of offset and letterpress, a blizzard of confetti signalled the start of general wassail that went on late into the night.
I was lucky enough to be seated with Cyril Southan of Auckland sign company, Original Print, (pictured with wife Karen, son Dylan and his partner Nicola Hayward) who won the Category and the Process Award in Display Print. His keen appreciation was palpable in taking the award with a screen-printed poster in an age dominated by digital technology.
Full marks must go to Sue Archibald, under whose careful guidance the awards have achieved a ‘must attend’ status. There was a fine sense of confidence and celebration throughout the night. On this showing, the New Zealand industry can take great pride in its Pride in Print.
On my way back home I picked up the New Zealand Herald in the Qantas Lounge to find the APN newspaper tabloid programme with its loud Print Out Loud cover included as a supplement. Now that is taking your message to the people.
And finally, on a night of style and elan, I was very pleased to again meet Brian Kidston of Leach Print & Bindery Supplies, who brought a mighty Scottish flair to the proceedings. With his good wife, Susan, he shone in a room lit with brilliance.
Never were the words of the poet more aptly applied;
Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.
Robbie Burns