The Victorian branch of the Lithographic Institute of Australia got together for the first time in many years to name the 2020 and 2021 Graduates of the Year at an event held at the Fujifilm Business Innovation Australia offices in Richmond, Melbourne in late December.
Around 30 guests – many of whom had travelled from across Victoria – attended the event which was supported by Heidelberg Australia and Visual Connections.
Fujifilm Business Innovation’s national sales manager – channel production, Brett Maishman, provided a technical briefing with an update on the features of FFBI’s newly released Revoria PC1120 digital production printer.
Maishman, himself a LIA Graduate of the Year, said the opportunity to conduct a personal tour of the facility and meet up with industry members again was wonderful.
“It was fantastic to welcome visitors to our showroom again to see and discuss the developments which have happened over the past couple of years, before celebrating with some of the industry’s most impressive new talent,” Maishman said, emphasising that winning the Award had made an ‘invaluable’ contribution to his own career.
The technical session was followed by a networking event at which the 2020 and 2021 LIA Heidelberg Australia Graduate of the Year Awards were presented by LIA Victoria President, Robert Black and Committee Member Lindsay Banks.
The 2020 Graduate of the Year was presented to Matilda Milligan from Fildes. The other 2020 finalists were Jessica Daniels from Nathalia Printers, and Amel Bilali and Mangaljit Singh, both from Amcor Flexibles in Preston.
Corné Mostert from Norwood Industries in Hallam took out the 2021 Award, from a field which also included Jake Lovell from Willprint in Shepparton and Nick Monshing from North East Media in Wangaratta.
Black, whose own career has focused heavily on training and career development, said Matilda and Corné demonstrated impressive achievements over the course of their training and outstanding potential as a future industry leaders.
“The candidates for both the 2020 and 2021 Awards were enormously impressive, making determining the winners a difficult task,” he said. “We sincerely congratulate our winners and also applaud all the finalists for their commitment, achievements and exemplary conduct throughout the judging process.”
LIA Victoria President, Robert Black, whose involvement in the industry has focused strongly on training and career development, agreed, saying the Awards really sets the LIA apart from other industry associations.
After a period of inactivity, the Victorian chapter of the LIA was re-established last year with more announcements to come soon as a series of events are planned for 2022. Committee members are Robert Black (President), Jenny Berry (Vice-President), Lindsay Banks, Brett Maishman and Robyn Frampton.
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