Harden Packaging’s flexo printing apprentice, Jackson Young, has been named as the LIA Victoria Graduate of the year, with Bambra Press’s Marcel Feillafe receiving a ‘special distinction’ award. The announcements were made at the print training facilities at Holmesglen Institute, with a tour of the facilities included for those who attended the event.
LIA Victoria 2025 Apprentice of the Year Award winner Jackson Young with proud dad Harry Young, founder of Harden Packaging
Lindsay Banks, who coordinates the Graduate Awards program for LIA Victoria, acknowledged that ‘all finalists should be proud of their achievements’, adding: “We say this every year, but it is an incredibly difficult task for our Judging Panel to determine the winners. Not only because their roles, skills and responsibilities are so different, but because each is exceptional in their own way. All six of these graduates are leaders in their field, and we have no doubt will be leaders of our industry in the future.”
Alongside Jackson and Marcel, the other four finalists were Sorkim Eng and Davouth Lay from MCC Melbourne, Jack Jankauskas from Newsprinters Wodonga and Chris Murphy from Amcor.
LIA 2025 Apprentice of the Year Award finalists (LtoR) Jackson Young, Jack Jankauskas, Davouth Lay, Sorkim Eng and Marcel Feillaffe (sixth finalist Chris Murphy absent from the picture)Heidelberg Australia support the State winners from around Australia to attend the biennial LIA 2025 National Graduate of the Year Awards finals in Sydney on 17th October, so it was Heidelberg Australia’s Darren Brookes who awarded Jackson with a $3000 grant cheque from The Collie Print Trust ‘to be used to further his career development’. Marcel received a $2000 grant award. The national award winner will receive a $10,000 career development grant, courtesy of Visual Connections.
A worthy winner, Jackson regularly runs up to eight-colour rewind stock on a variety of substrates, and has been trained on Harden’s entire press fleet, a solventless laminator, slitter and micro-perforator, and has also held the position of operations manager, mounter, first aid officer and HACCP team leader.
Robyn Frampton, LIA Victoria President, says: “What always impresses me is not only what our Finalists have already achieved in their careers, but how engaged and motivated they are to keep learning and developing their professional skills and careers.”
Talking about the tour and the event, she added: “Our technical events are always a great opportunity to update our knowledge and understanding, and of course to catch up with industry colleagues and friends. It was great to also learn more about how training in our sector continues to evolve to meet industry needs, and we thank Holmesglen for hosting us.”
