Sarah Kennedy of Brisbane printer Colorcorp has won the LIA-Heidelberg Graduate of the Year Award presented at an awards night in Brisbane.
Kennedy won the Graduate of the Year prize ahead of runner-up Lauren White of Greenridge Press and finalists David McDowall (Printcraft), Jeremy Nichol (APN) and Jeffrey Zielke (Inprint).
More than 130 people attended the 2017 LIA-Heidelberg Graduate of the Year Awards & PIAA QLD Early Stage Apprenticeship Awards held at South Bank.
Winner of the Stage 1 Apprenticeship Award was Kyal Ragh of APN, ahead of runner-up Josie Sach of BB Print.
The Stage 2 Apprenticeship Award went to Jack Kelly (Southport Printing), with Robert Edge (Amcor Flexibles) finishing runner-up.
The Stage 3 Award winner was Andrew Rett (Inprint), ahead of colleague Joshua Irving (Inprint).
“The discussion on selecting winners this year was as tough as it gets,” says Brendan Pearce, LIA QLD vice president. “Judges had a very difficult time in finalising the awards and said the quality of the candidates had risen to a new level. The quality of the contenders made it extremely difficult to split them.”
Print historian Clinton Harvey (pictured) entertained the crowd with his presentation on the resurgence of letterpress printing and the history of print in Australia. The underlying theme to the industry at large was not to overlook the rich history of printing in Australia, says LIA federal vice president Bernie Hockings.
This year also saw the inaugural presentation of the “Gary Bender – Industry Contribution Award,” named in honour of long time industry and LIA contributor, Gary Bender, who was present to receive the trophy from Hockings.
“This has been a great night and highlights all the good things that our industry has to offer," says Mel Ireland, LIA federal president. "I also want especially thank the sponsors and the training organisations who put forward their best and brightest.”
Sponsors included Visual Connections, Spicers Paper and Currie Group.
Other images from the event are available at https://photogalleries247.com/arana/index.php