NZ apprentice of the year scores love all

Jason Rako stood out from the crowd at last Friday’s award ceremony but he was always a one out for his fiancée, Danielle Lester.

The beaming binding and finishing apprentice at PMP Print in Christchurch faced some stiff opposition from the other five finalists, but proved a worthy winner. On the night in front of a packed house of his peers, colleagues and friends, he paid tribute to his workmates, supervisors and the company for his opportunity to compete.

Scheduled to tie the knot soon, Danielle Lester thinks Jason Rako is number one.

The other finalists:
• Michael Win – Screen/dry offset, NCI Packaging, Upper Hutt
• Stewart Lusmanu – Fibreboard packaging, Amcor Kiwi Packaging, Auckland
• Matthew Lowe – Digital processes for print, The Beacon Printing & Publishing, Whakatane
• Franz-Josef Mundt – Reel-fed printing, Taranaki Newspapers, New Plymouth
• Wayne Torrie – Sheetfed printing, Logan Print, Gisborne.


Nowhere is the best spirit of the New Zealand industry more apparent than in the support the industry gives its apprentices, and it show. The presentation of the Apprentice of the Year was accorded the same enthusiasm as any of the sought after printing awards.

Much of the credit goes to the efforts of the Industry Training Organisation (IT0) headed by Nigel Harrison, Amcor and managed by the redoubtable Joan Grace, Print NZ CEO(below). Although the industry has been battered in recent years the printing industry’s apprenticeship scheme is still considered one of the best in the country.

According to Phil O'Reilly, CEO Business NZ, keynote speaker at the presentation breakfast, the ITO in charge of printing is one of the best training organisations with plenty of industry support and involvement.
He termed it “the Rolls Royce” in terms of systems. “Your business people are in control and are able to give leadership. This is the distinguishing factor,” he said at the breakfast where the six young men (sic) were introduced to the industry.

Joan Grace paid tribute to the many industry organisations and companies that have come together to operate the ITO. “It means so much that we are all cooperating for the good of the industry,” she said.