Pride In Print goes back to basics

Printers and the print-buying community will be brought closer together by a new format according to organisers of next year’s Pride In Print awards.

Awards manager Sue Archibald (pictured) announced that the award categories will be redefined and simplified to take away “technical jargon” that sometimes confuses both buyers and users of print products.

“The lay person does not identify with technical descriptions of processes and press types, but they do understand broad print categories such as ‘newspapers’, ‘books’, ‘magazines’, ‘catalogues’ and ‘fine art prints’,” she said.

“So we are aligning our award categories with what the print buyer and user understands. Customers can grasp that an entry has won Best Publication, the Best Packaging or the Best Business Print category very easily.”

The changes follow feedback from discussions and meetings held with the Pride In Print committee, Awards Patrons, Sponsors and printing companies across the country. A Pride In Print survey also produced some input.

 “This will provide opportunities for businesses winning the Awards to better promote their success with their customers,” Archibald said.

Archibald added that standards-based judging will remain the norm and each entry will continue to be judged on its own merits taking into consideration things such as process used, degree of difficulty etc. Each process will still have a winning job recognised as the best of the best. In addition there will be a clear pathway for entrants from the category entered to the Supreme Award Winner.

Changes will also be made to the awards night itself. The awards will be presented in a single room over dinner with more focus on the winners – particularly the Summary Category Winners – and with the intention of seeing the Awards and dinner complete at about 10pm, leaving the crowd to enjoy networking, entertainment and dancing until the early hours.