Printers have just four weeks to submit entries to the slimmed-down 2015 National Print Awards as the competition begins a process of significant change.

The new committee has slashed the number of gold awards categories from 33 to 25 by amalgamating some subcategories and abolishing some altogether, but held off including any non-print honours.

New NPA chairwoman Susan Heaney says the streamlined category list will make for a better event that will not drag on as previous years did.

“The presentations have been too long and protracted to the point where it becomes a lot of white noise,” she says.

Gone are the flexo, screen printing, small business and innovation awards, while areas like web offset and packaging are compressed to one award for all techniques – but otherwise there were no radical changes as the committee takes a cautious approach.

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Heaney says unlike the revamped PICAs, there will be no awards for design or cross media communications as the changes must be introduced gradually.

“We need to portray an inclusive industry but you can’t upend the apple cart all at once, it will need to be slowly slowly,” she says.

“We have to start somewhere then get feedback from the industry and take that on board. It took me a couple of years to get the design awards through in Queensland.”

PIAA chief executive Bill Healey agrees, saying print and other areas like design are not mutually exclusive and their inclusion side by side in the awards would not detract from each other.

“I think the awards need to stay relevant as the industry moves towards a broader range of services and evolve with it,” he says.

“It is still fundamentally about the quality of printed product, but as the differentiation between different kinds of equipment narrows, who knows.”

Healey says he has talked to the Australian Graphic Design Association and it is interested in being involved in future competitions and having a closer relationship with the PIAA.

“Anything that builds a stronger bridge with the design community is a good thing,” he says.

Healey says abolishing the two digital awards is a positive step in acknowledging the increasing role the technology is playing in the industry, as it will now be incorporated into product categories either as a subcategory or combined as equal with offset.

He says digital can now be judged as a way of producing the many print jobs rather than something to one side a few people are doing.

“At least 80 per cent of print businesses now have some kind of digital capability and it is important we acknowledge that,” he says.

Healey says the 25 categories were chosen from analysis of PICA entry volumes and are not carved in stone.

“There is no point in having subcategories that don’t get many entries, but if a lot come in for one the judges may consider splitting it into different areas like offset and digital,” he says.

“This is the first year of direct entry so we are road testing the category list to see how entries go.”

Healey says the awards are a vital opportunity to showcase the value of print.

“There is no better way to show print is not dead than presenting high quality work as evidence it still has a strong role to play,” he says.

“I encourage businesses to enter their best work to give us ammunition to present to the doomsayers.”

Heaney says printers should put their best foot forward to demonstrate just why print is, and will continue to be, a critical part of the multi-channel communications world of the future.

“In the face of ever increasing competition, the best way for all of us to demonstrate just how influential and effective it can be is to continue to strive to produce our work to the very highest standards,” she says.

“Today, we are truly on the front line of a battle field. It has never been more important for print to meet quality and effectiveness benchmarks.”

The awards are open to all Australia-based printers and the work must have been produced between September 1, 2013 and December 30, 2014, and be printed and finished in Australia.

The deadline for submissions is December 12 and entry forms are available from the NPA website.

Entries will be judged in February by an expert judging panel headed up by Luke Wooldridge and medal winners will be announced at the National Print Awards Presentation Dinner in Sydney on May 15, 2015 during the PrintEx 15 exhibition.

The organising committee, chaired by Heaney, includes Adam Todd from Fuji Xerox Australia, Craig Pearce from Flying Colours, Bowden Printing’s Damien Burchell, Ian Smith from Advance Press, Heidelberg’s Richard Timson and Richard Watson from Currie Group.

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