Passing judgement on the NZ print judges

Seminars were held at various centres from Christchurch to Auckland, at which the Pride In Print committee listened to rank-and-file printers, learned what questions the industry wants answered and explained how the Awards are judged.

Questioning from the floor at the Auckland evening at Heidelberg’s Mt Wellington headquarters, was indicative of the high level of interest in the Awards. Over 90 people turned out for the event, from all sectors of the printing industry.

Awards Manager, Sue Archibald, gave a brief background to what the Pride In Print Awards are all about – celebrating and promoting the excellence of print in New Zealand – including a video of the successful Rotorua gathering this year, which attracted an audience of over 800.

“That is why we need to put the very best of our work in front of the judges, and promote ourselves in the market place. We need to get more print buyers to stop taking work offshore, and instead place their orders within New Zealand. The best way that we can demonstrate to them the quality of which New Zealand is capable is to have our most excellent work on show,” she said.

The new convener of judges for 2006, Grant Letfus, emphasised how the judges required more information to be sent with entries.
“Every year, we get entries that do not give us sufficient information to assess the processes undertaken, or to judge the degree of difficulty. This year we had one entry in the ‘Innovation in Print’ category which listed the print process as ‘secret’. That gave us no opportunity to judge the technical difficulty of the work.”
He outlined how the technical expertise in the Awards had expanded, with the original judging panel of 12 expanded to 54.

Danny Redhill, general manager of Bryce Francis Graphics in Wellington, was able to speak from the perspective of an unsuccessful entrant for a number of years, who finally broke through for Award success.
Now a judge, he went into detail in explaining how in the first assessment, entries are culled 30 to 40 pr cent by judges in the specific area of expertise for that category. In subsequent culls, examinations become more intense, and judges from other areas are brought to give advice on things such as finishing and binding.

In an era of computer-to-plate technology, judges pay special attention to areas of craftsmanship. Errors such as hickies and cracking down the spine during folding bring bad marks. Another issue is consistency of corporate colours.

“I would suggest trying to do corporate colours in spot colour,” he advised. “If you’re trying to do them in CMYK you will have extra difficulty in maintaining consistency over multi pages. Even in a spot colour, this is an area you must look at carefully.”
Redhill also advised the audience to pay particular heed to the matching up of photographs over folds; folds not being absolutely square; over-inking leading to screens filling in; creep during jobs and the quality of the perfect binding of books.

“One job that we had this year was heading for a Gold Medal but in the final analysis, we found one staple that was crooked. That was enough to downgrade to highly-commended,” he said.
He advised printers to handpick their samples for possible Pride In Print entries during the course of the year, and to make a final review at the end of the year to decide which were best.

Finally, he urged smaller printers to make their mark in the Awards. “Pride In Print is not just about the big boys, with all the bells and whistles. Every year, there are Gold Medals which go to small printers with ordinary two-colour equipment. There is a place for the smaller printer to gain just as much recognition.”

Sue Archibald reinforced this by pointing out the marketing benefits which flow from achieving an Award.
“It is great promotion. One of the releases from our PR team about a Gold Award winner, has recently been picked up in America and achieved publicity there. Your $57 entry fee will be the cheapest marketing investment that you will ever make, if you get a Gold Medal.”

Questions from the floor revealed a lot of interest in how judging is conducted for the Supreme Award. Grant Letfus described how all the Gold Medal winners, which had been chosen as top of their categories, were then presented to the Supreme Award panel of judges.

The senior judge from that category then spoke on behalf of the entry and explained its technical and craft merit. From there on, secret ballots of the panel successively reduce the contestants down to two, resulting in the final secret vote for the Supreme Award winner.

Responding to further questioning, screenprinting senior judge Ross Clarke took the floor to explain in more detail the technical merits of this year’s Supreme Award winner, as an example of the judging process in action.
Another questioner suggested that some entrants would like to know more as to why their entries had succeeded or failed, and was told by Sue Archibald that people are entitled to ask for the judging papers to be returned, complete with judges’ comments.

To the question of whether the judges know who has entered a particular job, Grant Letfus said that all entries are incognito. When it is apparent that a judge recognises a particular piece of work, or knows the work is submitted by his or her company, the judge stands down from judging that entry.
Audience participants spoken to after the formal part of the evening, were appreciative of the seminar.
Colin McGinley, director of The Print Shop in Albany, said the explanation about the judging criteria was of particular benefit.
“Pride In Print gives us something tangible with which to relate to our customers. It shows that we have been judged by our peers as having some advantage over our competitors. We need to keep abreast of what the judges are looking for in order to keep ahead of the competition, and that was why we attended the seminar.”

Wayne Romminger, general manager of McCollams in Mairangi Bay, who asked a number of questions from the floor, also agreed the seminar had great merit.
“Absolutely, it was very worthwhile to hear directly from some of the members of the panel. It makes my understanding of the process a lot more clearer now, although I still see it as being very difficult for them in the Supreme Award to choose between the merits of jobs from very different fields.”
The audience was also given details by Sue Archibald of the changes to the 2006 Pride In Print Awards evening at Auckland’s Sky City Casino.
It is to be a bigger, better balance of prize-giving, entertainment, partying and networking, while reinforcing the formal Awards presentations. This follows a detailed independent survey of industry members by the Awards Committee.
Sue Archibald warned people to be in early for their tickets for the big night on Friday June 9. Attendance will be strictly limited to 1000, to ensure all attendees fully enjoy the evening.

For further information on the Pride In Print Awards please contact:
Sue Archibald -- Awards Manager (021) 663-881