New Zealand print’s night of nights threw up its customary array of talent competing for 9 Printing Process awards and awarding 15 competition entrants for their excellence in certain categories. The evening also saw the NZ Apprentice of the Year crowned and various Business Awards awarded for Training, Innovation and Sustainability.
Left to right: Letterpress specialist Tim Morris took to the stage together with Studio Q / Laserfoil’s director/owner Dave Trotter and Account Manager Liesl Trotter to accept the NZ Pride in Print ‘Supreme’ award
On the night, it was difficult to pick whose smile was the widest. Transcontinental Packaging NZ print supervisor and flexographic printer Brad Smith was named as the BJ Ball 2024 Apprentice of the Year. Whilst Studio Q / Laserfoil’s director/owner Dave Trotter, Account Manager Liesl Trotter and letterpress specialist Tim Morris took to the stage together to accept the NZ Pride in Print ‘Supreme’ award for what h judges described as ‘stunning work’ on New Jersey-based couple Kaya and Brian’s Wedding Invite Suite.
The judges noted that they had seen a number of well-produced wedding invites for overseas customers this year, saying ‘it is a great credit to our Aotearoa New Zealand industry that these customers are coming to our printers ahead of anywhere else in the world.’
Talking specifically about the Supreme Award winner, the judges acknowledged the “huge technical difficulty required to achieve such quality across digital and letterpress printing, light debossing, die-cuts, foiling, hand-stitching and more’, adding: ‘its customised detail additionally involved the incorporation of actual vintage American stamps, a personalised seal, a precisely-bowed ribbon and hand-mixed Pantone colours on bespoke stock’. Receiving the award, Dave Trotter was also quick to praise Michaela McBride for her design and calligraphy on the winning entry: “Michaela is an amazing New Zealand designer and calligrapher whose market is almost entirely overseas: she designs for weddings all around the world. She has an attention to detail that marries up with our own.”
Transcontinental Packaging NZ print supervisor & flexographic printer Brad Smith is BJ Ball 2024 Apprentice of the Year
Smith accepted the Apprentice of the Year Award with grace, quick to acknowledge the five other finalists he was pitted afainst, saying: “I’m proud to be part of such a passionate, skilled and resilient community.”
In a fitting celebration at the Cordis Hotel in Auckland, attended by over 500 people from New Zealand’s burgeoning printing community, the other NZ Pride in Print 2025 Award winners were:
Category Winners
Sign and Display Print – Hydroflow Rainbird FSDU (ABC Original Print)
Print Industry Promotion – APC 2024 Christmas Wine Box (APC Innovate)
Paper and Board Packaging – Snackachangi Presenter/PR Box (APC Innovate)
Business Print – Mercury – Integrated Report 2024 (Blue Star Auckland Print & Packaging - Collard)
Industry Development and Creativity – One NZ Advent Calendars (Blue Star Auckland Display & Distribution)
Structural Design Packaging – Panadol Liquid Caps (Blue Star Auckland Display & Distribution)
Promotional Print – Art of Michelle Bellamy (easy2C Calendars and Promotional Products)
Flexible Packaging Category winner 'Quack a Duck' Peking Spiced Whole Duck (sealed Air HamiltonFlexible Packaging – Quack A Duck Peking Spiced Whole Duck (Sealed Air Hamilton).
Packaging All Other Materials – Whittaker's Dark Ghana 50 gram Chunk (Lamprint Packaging Holdings)
Specialty Products – Kaya and Brian Wedding Invite Suite (Studio Q / Laserfoil) – also winners of the Supreme Award
Labels – Fresh n Fruity Greek Raspberry 1kg Yoghurt (Logan Print)
Publications Newspapers – The Weekend Sun Issue 1233 (NZME Ellerslie Print)
Publications Books – Te Ara Hohou Rongo | The Path to Reconciliation (Wakefields Digital)
Print Finishing – Te Ara Hohou Rongo | The Path to Reconciliation (Wakefields Digital)
Process Winners
Sheetfed Offset – The Historic Architecture in Korea (Brebner Print)
Inkjet – Pressed Flowers (Caxton)
Screen – Zhu Ohmu x Kate Sylvester Hemp Bag (Colour Evolution)
Digital – Welcome to My Brain Card Game (Eamar Innovative Solutions)
Gravure – Boring Oat Milk Barista (Gravure Packaging)
Flexographic – Quack A Duck Peking Spiced Whole Duck (Sealed Air Hamilton)
Coldset – The Waikato Times Your Weekend 12 October 2024 (Stuff – Petone)
Heatset – Super Liquor (Webstar)
Letterpress – Casa de Campo (Windmill Press)
Business Award Category Winners
Sustainability - Sealed Air Hamilton
Trainer of the Year - Aaron Smith (Opal Kiwi Packaging Auckland)
Training Company of the Year - Blue Star Wellington
Business Award Gold Medal Winners
Innovation - 5 Digital
Sustainability - Amcor Flexibles Christchurch
Sustainability - Blue Star Group
Sustainability - SCG
Sustainability - The Print Room
Sustainability and Wellness - Transcontinental Packaging NZ
Established in 1993 with the goal to promote excellence in print in New Zealand, the Pride In Print Awards have become the pinnacle of recognition for the best in visual print communication products produced in New Zealand.
New Zealand Pride in Print Awards 2025
