Getting To Grips With The Judging

Getting To Grips With The Judging

It pays to get a close grip on the task of judging New Zealand’s finest print and packaging designs, as Matt Hall found at the Pride In Print Awards judging this week.

Matt, leader of the Digital Grand Format team of expert judges, found that rather than stay at arm’s length from this point-of-sale lingerie entry, he needed to embrace the subject.

“Closer inspection allowed us to appreciate the contours of the design. We considered it a model entry,” he said.

On a serious note, Matt said that while entry numbers were slightly down on last year’s record haul in this section of the Awards, it was pleasing to see that there was an exceptional number of quality entries submitted this year.

“The highlight section that really stood out for the judging team was the Grand Format category, which was quite surprising considering the bar was raised significantly last year. Typically we’re used to seeing fairly coarse resolutions due to their immense size, but the quality of work submitted was anything but,” he said.

The lingerie entry was one of hundreds in various categories for this year’s Pride In Print Awards. Awards Manager Sue Archibald said entries were slightly down this year reflecting the recession, sheetfed entries being the most affected, but there were some encouraging trends evident.

“We have had a good range of companies, big and small, and a good geographic spread of entries. Given the consolidation of companies within the wider print industry, this is a good sign that Pride In Print is popular with the industry as a whole.

“Another positive sign is that we have started getting entries from the customers of print and packaging companies, in addition to the printers themselves. This is a very strong indication that the Pride In Print message is getting through to the print buyers, who themselves are conscious of the marketing exposure and endorsement of quality that comes with a Pride In Print award.

“We have tried hard to get the Pride In Print concept embraced by the print buyers and over the last couple of years there has been strong evidence this has been adopted. Certainly, entries from customers is a very welcome sign for the future,” said Sue.
Awards Night will be in Wellington on May 8.

All winning work will be on display in the Wellington Convention Centre – in the heart of Wellington -- for five days after the Award winners are announced. Sue Archibald has also arranged with the organisers of the PacPrint 2009 exhibition in Melbourne in late May for the Supreme Award Winner and Supreme Award Finalists to be placed on display at this exhibition.

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