The Queensland Heidelberg/LIA graduates of the year for 2020 and 2021 have been named with Ashleigh Jones of Digital Synergy taking out the 2020 award and Joshua West of Multi-Color Corporation winning the gong for 2021.
Ashleigh has now completed her digital print apprenticeship, while Joshua has completed his apprenticeship in flexographic printing. Both Ashleigh and Joshua will now represent Queensland at the Visual Connections/LIA National Biennial Awards.
Other finalists in the 2020 competition were Tyler-Jay Schmidt from Go Transit Media Group and Charlotte Fountain from Kuhn Corporation, while this year’s finalists included Emma Wilson from Buzz Print, Andrew Warboys from Ultra Labels and Caren Campbell from Multi-Color Corporation.
The winners of the program were announced last Friday night at the Queensland Printing Industry Creativity Awards in Brisbane.
“Like many activities, the flow of the association’s apprenticeship support program over the past 12 to 18 months has been impacted by COVID restrictions, but that didn’t dampen the celebrations when the winners were announced at the Queensland PICAs,” said Brendan Pearce, acting Queensland President of the Lithographic Institute of Australia (LIA).
Mel Ireland, the LIA’s Federal President, agreed, saying the organisation is impressed with all the companies involved in the awards for their ongoing commitment of to the future workforce of the industry.
“All these companies have been impacted in some way by the pandemic, but they recognise that the acknowledgement, support and celebration of apprentices through the program continues to play a vital role in securing the future of our industry,” she said.
“We are particularly grateful to Heidelberg and Visual Connections for their ongoing sponsorship support during these challenging times.”
The biennial National Graduate of the Year Awards Event, where the winners from each state will vie for up to $10,000 towards further education and training, was to have been held at PacPrint in Melbourne in September.
“With the show postponed, we are now reviewing our plans and will confirm new dates and arrangements for those celebrations in due course,” Mel said.
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