Pride In Print Awards keep it simple

Award category improvements, new information packs and a series of regional briefing seminars are being introduced as part of a bid to make the 2008 Pride In Print Awards more printer-friendly.

Announcing the package of changes this week, awards manager Sue Archibald (pictured) said that for the 2008 Awards, entry information will be amended to make identification of categories and preparation for entry submission easier.

"The main change is in Category 10 which has been expanded to include calendars, annual reports and other specific products and processes such as foiling, embossing, thermography, binding and finishing, personalisation, metal printing, pre-formed plastic, limited editions, print /agency pitch campaigns, security printing, composites and case-bound books," she said.

Archibald said that two other initiatives were also being introduced to increase the "printer friendly" experience of entering the Pride In Print Awards.

One is an information pack explaining in detail the Awards, the categories, the judging process and the overall Pride In Print concept. The pack is now downloadable from the Pride In Print Awards website.

The second initiative is a series of regional seminars at which local printers meet the Pride In Print team first hand, get some inside knowledge on how the Awards work and can ask direct questions to increase their understanding of the whole concept.

These two initiatives are part of a drive to increase the transparency of the Awards to ordinary printers, both "city" and "regional" according to Archibald.

"In the last few years more and more printers have valued getting back the judging sheets which gave them a true reflection of the good and bad points judges found in their work," she said.

"This is the kind of thing we will be getting across to printers at our seminars. We welcome discussion and questions - Pride In Print is about improving standards across the board. Transparency is something we must always try to achieve. We want people to understand the judging process and learn from it. That is how we will continue to raise standards for the good of the print industry generally."