The winners gather on the terrace of the House of Lords.

This year’s Print Futures Awards, boosted by a £30,000 cash injection from The Printing Charity, attracted a record number of applications and winners, writes Simon Eccles.

Now in their tenth year, the Awards are for cash grants of up to £1,500 each for young people aged 16 to 30 years to help pay for any costs associated with a training course for a job in printing, publishing or graphic arts in the UK.

Last week the 17 winners were presented with their awards at The Printing Charity’s reception for the industry, hosted by Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde at the House of Lords. As Brenda Dean, she was president of the SOGAT print trade union from 1983 and general secretary from 1985 to 1991. The awards were presented by the president of the Printing Charity, Lord Black of Brentwood, executive director of the Telegraph Media Group.

Judging this year took place over two days in June at the St Bride Foundation. The 22 applicants shortlisted from the 60 who applied included young people undertaking apprenticeships in the printing industry, design courses at university and studying for an MA in journalism.

The Printing Charity, which was called the Printer’s Charitable Foundation until 2010, said that it has trebled the number of people it has helped in the past four years, with 75% of financial grants going to people living outside London and the south-east of England.

Lord Black said: ‘It’s tremendous to report the increase in the number of people the charity has helped but we want to do more. We want to help 2000 people by 2017 and to achieve that we need everyone in our industry to spread the message that The Printing Charity is there for people and their families.’

Jon Wright, chairman of the charity, spoke about links the charity has formed with The Prince’s Trust, which has now helped 39 young people set up their own businesses, and the re-establishment of a Yorkshire network to promote the charity in the region. He also outlined new initiatives the charity’s Trustees will consider this year, including research with Tomorrow’s People to help people who have been made redundant from the printing industry and want to work again.

Contact: www.theprintingcharity.org.uk

For information about next year’s awards, contact Terry Ulrick, Print Futures Awards secretary, on 07850 105027, email terryulrick@tucommunications.co.uk or see www.printfuturesawards.com

 

2013 Print Futures Award Winners

Jennifer Chattaway, who won a place on the City University MA course in magazine journalism after gaining 2.1 in English at Nottingham. She loves creative writing and hopes for a future job on a national consumer magazine.

Charlotte Corner, just graduating with a first class honours degree in journalism, said she has ‘a passion and burning desire for print’. She founded and edited the Cheerleader, a magazine for the cheerleading community, with limited resources and intended to use her award to help develop the magazine as a viable publishing project.

Daniel Crossfield from Wakefield has completed a BTec in Information Technology and now plans a BTec in Business Studies at Barnsley College. ‘My parents have had a printing business from before I was born,’ he says.

Sarah Green is a Leeds student completing her BA in Design & Colour Technology. She said she loves the printing industry from a design point of view. She intended to use her award to fund a laptop and software to help her develop a strong portfolio. 

Oliver Griffin has a 2.1 in English Literature and now plans to study for an MA in magazine journalism at City University. His long-term interest is in travel and travel news. ‘I have always admired writers who can entertain and captivate me. Now I want to captivate readers of my own,’ he said.

Alex Gross is a student at the London College of Communication where he is reading for a BA in Graphic & Media Design. He has just finished his second year and now plans a series of internships in London and Amsterdam and an additional Diploma in Professional Studies. He is fascinated by the letterpress process and recently acquired an old 8×5 inch Adana hand press.

Michael Hood is a trainee customer adviser with Severnprint and is studying print administration with the help of BPIF Training. He plans to go on an account management course and ultimately gain a place on his company’s sales team.

Anita Hossain is just completing her final year of a Design & Colour Technology BA at the University of Leeds. She has won a one-year unpaid internship with cosmetics giant Estée Lauder, the cosmetics industry being her chosen target. This means a move to London and the award will fund her greatly increased costs.

Calum Jacobs is a Design & Colour Technology student at the University of Leeds, just finishing his second year. He is from Dorset and his father runs a direct mailing company. He is now looking for printing industry placements to further his experience.

Chris Jeeves is a Shillington College design graduate who has just secured a job as a junior designer with a top estate agent in its London head office. He already has a BA Hons in English Studies and Philosophy from Oxford Brookes.

Ralph Jones gave up his job as a production assistant with a publisher to move to London to study for an MA in magazine journalism at City University. ‘Writing is something I cannot imagine being without,’ he told the Print Futures Awards’ judges.

Andrei Kazak, a final year Design & Colour Technology student from the University of Leeds, is from Belarus. He said colour science neatly twins together art and science and for the future he has his eye on the packaging industry. He has previously studied theology, psychology and Spanish.

Benjamin Levermore gave up his previous job to study graphic design full-time at Shillington College. He has a varied background, including a BTec in music where he achieved a raft of merits and distinctions.

Katie Martin, a graphic designer, plans a career in ‘sustainable design’. She is at the end of her second year of a BA Graphic & Communication Design at the University of Leeds and will now take a year out in industry, including unpaid work at the Sydney Festival. She will use her award to help pay her air fare and living expenses.

Natalie Metcalfe has recently completed a design course at Shillington College, Manchester. After a BA Hons in Business IT at Huddersfield and five years as a secondary school teacher, she is starting a new career in graphic design.

Dominic Novelli is a digital print, print and mail apprentice at Fujitsu Cheshire. He first came before the judges in 2012. He so impressed the panel that he was invited to apply again in 2013 after another year’s industry experience.

Laura Price from Huddersfield, begins a City University MA in magazine journalism in September after working for eight years at Bloomberg and Facebook. Her goal is to be the editor of a national consumer magazine. She already has a BA Hons in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies and a Diploma in Translation from the Institute of Linguistics.