Scott Porter Takes Reins at Pride In Print

A new Chairman has been elected for Pride In Print -- Scott Porter, Product Performance Manager for Cryovac Sealed Air in Hamilton. Scott succeeds long-standing incumbent John North who has guided Pride In Print since its inception in 1993.

Mr Porter said he was delighted to be taking over the reins – “I have always found Pride In Print to be an excellent benchmark within the industry. It's a real ‘who's who’ when it comes to the producers of top-quality work across all the print disciplines.

“The constant focus of the judging process is to ensure only the best examples gain due recognition and this is borne out when our winning entries are entered into similar overseas competitions and receive those same accolades as they have locally. New Zealand has always had a strong ‘can do’ mentality and nothing exemplifies this more than a quality-based awards system like Pride In Print.”

Changes to the format are envisaged for next year and Mr Porter says this is because the ever-changing face of the market means we need to be in constant review of the Awards and what they offer.

“Printers need to know that this is the right forum in which they can leverage their marketing of themselves, and our patrons and sponsors need to be comfortable that this is the appropriate use of their discretionary sponsorship dollars. With these things in mind the committee has canvassed the key contributors to better understand what they are now looking for in the Awards programme.

“This has highlighted some very valid points that we hope to address in the next campaign. In particular, we will aim to deliver an exclusive event with a gala atmosphere that is also attractive to those not intimately involved in the print process but are key in making print or packaging buying decisions.

“We aim also to realign the Award categories to better reflect the end use of our printed materials without jeopardising a printer’s opportunity to win gold or ultimately the supreme award.

“Finally we want to identify and assist in the ways and means that winners have available to them to ensure they can best market their successes either individually or as a collective.”

Mr Porter said under the guidance of John North, Pride In Print had grown from humble beginnings to be one of NZ's largest quality-based awards.

“It is going to be paramount in these times of competition from overseas imports and cost-cutting that our industry can positively differentiate itself to the discerning print buyers.

“For these reasons we need to ensure that we go from strength to strength. We need to listen to our market and our entrants to be able to recognise where this evolution will lead us.

“We will learn from our mistakes and continue to promote that we have a dynamic industry full of clever, dedicated people who deserve a forum in which we can recognise their efforts and encourage the ink to continue to course through their veins.”

ENDS

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