STI Lilyfield has a field day at WorkCover NSW Print Excellence Awards

The WorkCover NSW Print Excellence awards drew a big crowd and record entries as printers vied for a shot at the national awards. Print21 editor, Simon Enticknap, enjoyed the contest.

What a difference a year makes. This time last year it was a nervous and fretful print industry that gathered at Doltone House alongside Sydney Harbour for the NSW Print Excellence awards. The world’s financial systems seemed on the brink of collapse and the share market was in freefall. Dire warnings were being made about lay ahead and, indeed, it seemed as if the industry stood on the edge of a precipice.

Fast forward to last Friday – same venue, same crowd, very different vibe. Now the mood is positively upbeat, guest numbers are up, entries are up and it seems that, for those in the room at least, a bullet has been dodged. Perhaps it was just relief at having survived one of the worst downturns in living memory but there was a definite sense that maybe, just possibly, things might be getting better.

Perhaps too it was partly the result of the Federal government’s decision to retain the restriction on parallel importing of books following a long and successful lobbying campaign by printers, publishers and unions. Chalk this one up as a well-earned victory for the printing industry, and heaven knows there have been few enough of those in recent times.

Printing Industries national president, Jim Atkinson, got into the spirit of the occasion by poking fun at an economics professor who had the temerity to describe printers and publishers as carrying on like “pigs with their noses in the trough”.

“So you are all pigs,” declared Atkinson, adding that it was therefore acceptable for guests to throw their food around and spill drinks on each other.
Thankfully the big crowd was generally more restrained, and the MC for the night, Paul McDermott, (pictured above) did an excellent job to keep proceedings on track and entertaining at the same time.

In the awards themselves, there was many familiar names lining up to receive gold medals with the likes of Offset Alpine, Pettaras Press, Armstrong Miller Mclaren/Sydney Allen, Macdonald & Masterson, as well as some newer players such as Immij which shared gold in the Booklets, Catalogues & Magazines category while Scott Telfer’s Southern Colour picked up silver in the same category as the former chairman of the National Print Awards experienced life on the other side of the awards fence. For the full list of gold winners, click  here.

Digital printer, Docmaster, was a surprise winner in the Annual Report category while Bright Print Group scored well with three golds and Impresstik scooped the pool in the labels category.

Overall, there seemed to be more medals awarded this year with joint golds in several categories as well as numerous silver and bronze medals. This sometimes resulted in some rather odd-looking results such as Offset Alpine winning nine medals in one category - Web Offset Publications with Cover Price – including two gold, four silver three bronze. Perhaps though this is simply a reflection of the high standard of the work being submitted and the hard task facing the judges in separating the entries.

Pictured: A big night for STI Lilyfield at the NSW Print Excellence awards as Ian Kingham (right) collected the ‘Best of the Best’ award from WorkCover’s John Watson, one of eight gold medals for the Sydney printer.

At the end of the night though, one company stood out from the pack with STI Lilyfield picking up a total of eight gold medals including that of ‘Best of the Best’ for 2009. Proof indeed that while Reg Hammond might have passed the baton at Lilyfield to the German-based STI Group, the tradition of excellence lives on.

Congratulations to all the winners and runners-up. Make a date in your diary for March 26th 2010 for the National Print Awards in Sydney.