Prepress
PrintIT! Awards Ceremony Concludes Another Successful Year And Announces Bispham High School & Arts College As Overall Winners Of PrintIT! 2007/8
Tuesday 29. April 2008 - In conjunction with Polestar, the Stationers Hall once again provided the venue for the PrintIT! 2008 awards ceremony, which marked the third year of the successful educational initiative. The event saw student Alex Robertson of Bispham High School & Arts College, Blackpool awarded Overall Winner of PrintIT! 2007/8, as well as an expenses paid educational trip of a lifetime to St Lucia to see the benefits of Fairtrade.
The ceremony was once again given a celebrity boost by guest speaker, BBC Six Oclock news presenter and patron of The Fairtrade Foundation, George Alagiah OBE.
The overall winning entry of PrintIT! 2007/8 was selected from the eight category winners in a competition which registered more than 23,000 participating students from over 570 schools. Comments Martyn Elmy, Chairman of PrintIT!, “Alexs entry stood out because the design was innovative and had the greatest immediate visual impact of all the designs that were considered. There was strong brand identity and the item was also able to convey a message about Fairtrade. The design concept was also cleverly extended through a range of other promotional display items.”
As well as taking the top prize in the 2007/8 PrintIT! campaign, Alex Robertson also scooped the category award for Best Table Talker, a printed table-top display which conveys a promotional message.
“It is a befitting salute to the strength of our industry that we can all unite to encourage and support our joint ambition of attracting young people into print, through the efforts of PrintIT!”, continued Terry Watts, Chief Executive, Proskills UK and one of the final judges. “The fact that PrintIT! continues to enjoy enormous success is thanks to the unwavering and charitable support of the UK print industry and I take this opportunity to thank them for their commitment during year three of the programme.”
Once again, the Fairtrade Foundation provided the theme of the 2007/8 PrintIT! competition which challenged participating schools to create a comprehensive print-centric campaign to support the promotion of Fairtrade products in a typical café. As last year, the curriculum-mapped competition was extended to Year 10 students (aged 15-16) in their first year of their Product Design GCSE as well as for GCSE Graphic Products students. The aim of the project was to introduce students to the unique and stimulating appeal of print as an absorbing and rewarding career.
Adds Terry Watts, “Todays ceremony typifies what can be achieved through a fusion of inspiration, hard work and creative skill. We hope that by inspiring those pupils who have taken part in the PrintIT! initiative, some of them might join our industry in the future. Having a talented, youthful and vibrant workforce is vital to keeping our industry competitive, and judging by what we have once again seen from PrintIT! entries, it is evident that creative flair, enthusiasm and talent are in abundance within our schools.”
All the winning students in each of the eight different award categories were presented with individual prizes of a digital camera, as well as a valuable print-related prize for the winning schools. The students and teacher named overall winners of PrintIT! 2008 were also presented with an educational trip of a lifetime to St Lucia, where they will visit farmers on the island in order to see the benefits of Fairtrade; a major printing plant and also have lunch with the High Commissioner and attend various TV & radio interviews.
List of PrintIT! 2007/8 Prize Winners:
Overall Winner of PrintIT! 2007/8
Alex Robertson – Bispham High School & Arts College, Blackpool and her teacher Alison Yates
2007/8 Category Winners:
Best Poster
Stephen Partington – Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School, Lancashire
Best Table Talker
Alex Robertson – Bispham High School & Arts College, Blackpool, Lancashire
Best Free Design
Billy Joe Poole – Sandwich Technology School, Sandwich, Kent
Best Use of Brand across the Range
Sarah Edmondson, Katie-Louise Wire, Amy Pearson – Keswick School, Keswick, Cumbria
Best Understanding of Printing Techniques
Beth Goddard – Nottingham High School For Girls, Nottinghamshire
Best Use of Materials
Daniel Carter – Altrincham College of Arts, Altrincham, Cheshire
Best Overall Presentation
Jack OBrien, Adam Spivey, Alex Walsham – George Farmer Technology College, Spalding, Lincolnshire
Best Understanding of Environmental Concerns
Stacey Barry – Aylesbury High School, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
2007/8 Special awards
Best Industry Twinner
The Print Room, Bracknell, Berkshire
Best Teacher
Daniel Currigan, Tiffin Girls’ School, Kingston, Surrey
Best Overall School Effort
Beauchamp College
Best PrintIT! Student
Karen Sanders, Queen Elizabeth’s Community College, Crediton, Devon