Printing Industries Craftsmanship Awards (PICA) will be replaced with a less formal event, the WA Printers Annual Ball, which will be held in November.
The new event will feature fewer protocols, and there will be changes to categories and entry conditions, separation of companies by size, a scheduling change and move to a more informal networking and social function. peaking with the Australian Printer, Paul Nieuwhof, Printing Industries Western Australia state manager, says the new format will make the event less formal as all 30 awards will not be announced individually. Instead the winners will be featured in ‘the hall of fame in a separate section’. Nieuwhof says, “With the re-introduction of direct entry into the National Print Awards and some states electing not to continue their PICA events in tough sponsorship conditions, the west decided to opt for something different. “Western Australia prides itself as being the first state to run a PICA, from 1978, and it has been a continuing success story. “However we recognise the difficulties many states have been facing with sponsorship becoming more difficult, probably impacting on them a little sooner than in WA, and so we decided to completely re-think our approach. The result is a new kind of event from 2015.” He says changes to entry conditions will ‘limit the number of entries’ a company can submit per category and also group them according to company size. He says this will encourage companies to enter work into the more ‘highly contested categories because they will be competing with like-sized businesses and not the big end of town’.
Nieuwhof says, “Formalities will be kept to a minimum with only a few business awards and the coveted Best of Category being announced. “All winners will be recognised in the Winners’ Hall of Fame, which will be opened for viewing after the night’s formalities.” He says the Hall of Fame is intended to become an ‘event within an event’ creating opportunities for recognising and congratulating the winners and encouraging attendance. “We think that these changes will be successful in attracting more entries and will take the event forward both in the eyes of the sponsors, the contestants and those that come along on the night,” he says. Tickets for the event will be $120 per person, and Nieuwhof says he wants to industry to get behind the event, which will be an ‘enjoyable night’. PIAA says entry information for the awards will be available soon, and it encourages printers to participate in the competition.
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