As the printing industry continues to shrink, rationalisation has hit the state awards, with the Printing Industries Craftsmanship Awards (PICA) facing suspension. From next year the National Print Awards will return to a direct entry model, says Bill Healey, CEO of the PIAA, meaning the competition will be open to all and not just gold-winning qualifiers from each state. It also means that cash-strapped sponsors can invest in just the one event rather than being hit up for two levels of awards.
Offset Alpine cleaned up at the 2013 NSW PICAs – for the last time
Western Australia, Tasmania and Queensland have already scheduled their PICA events for 2014, and these will go ahead – with companies that miss out on gold still able to enter the nationals. The New South Wales, Victorian and combined South Australian and Northern Territory events, on the other hand, have been scrapped. The national awards have not escaped unchanged but will undergo an overhaul, with categories to reflect technological changes and industry re-alignment, says Healey. Susan Heaney, PIAA deputy president, will chair a new PIAA subcommittee made up of external industry reps to work with the chairman of judges to review the categories every year, as well as choosing judges and managing the process. “This is intended to ensure consistency, thoroughness, transparency and to reflect current technological and process trends in the category and judging processes,”says Healey. “Members of the existing committee have been invited to join the revamped arrangement.” The changes come in response to a review by Stephen Anstice, former CEO of IPMG, which found that the declining number of businesses and financial challenges for sponsors means pruning is necessary for the awards to stay viable and relevant. Healey says he expects to see a shorter, more streamlined presentation for next year’s NPA, with some similar categories combined yet more attention for areas like embellishment. Anstice recommends that the digital and offset classes remain separate – with new digital classes to reflect the technology’s growing popularity. Healey says print quality will continue to be the focus of the competition. The future of business awards – whether they remain as part of the NPA or break out into a separate competition – is still to be discussed. Heaney’s committee will complete its first award category review by August this year to allow companies to prepare their entries for the new-look National Print Awards in May 2015 – set to coincide with PrintEx in Sydney.
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