Business News
Prime Minister Gordon Brown Congratulates PrintIT! As Alex Robertson Of Bispham High School & Arts College, In Blackpool Is Named Overall Winner Of PrintIT! 2008
Tuesday 29. April 2008 - The Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, sent his congratulations to all the participants and winners of PrintIT! 2008, which has seen Alex Robertson of Bispham High School & Arts College in Blackpool named overall winner of PrintIT! 2008.
Alex and her teacher was presented with an educational trip of a lifetime to St Lucia, where they will visit local farmers to see the benefits of Fairtrade, attend a major printing plant, have lunch with the High Commissioner as well as take part in several TV & radio interviews. The 2008 PrintIT! Awards ceremony took place at the prestigious Stationers Hall in London on Friday April 25th, courtesy of Polestar and the Stationers Hall.
Commenting on PrintIT!, the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP said, “It is an excellent example of how work-related learning can help prepare young people for their future working lives and on their journey to a successful adulthood. I would like to congratulate the winners of your competition and wish everybody who took part (in PrintIT!) the very best for their future careers.”
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.