PrintWeek Awards
EXTENDED ENTRY DEADLINE: 16TH JULY 2010
Welcome
In the current economic climate, the marketing value of winning or being shortlisted for a PrintWeek Award can't be underestimated, in terms of raising the profile of your company in the buying community.
Equally, it's important that PrintWeek continues to reflect the changing face of the print industry, so with that in mind we've introduced a new category – Cross-media Printer of the Year. This award aims to celebrate the innovators that embrace e-communications as opportunity, rather than seeing it as a threat. Further to this, we've also dropped the Innovative Printer of the Year category, simply because as far as I'm concerned every single one of the 19 quality awards rewards innovation.
The Student of the Year category has been expanded, to encompass the evolving nature of training in print, and renamed Trainee of the Year, to open it up to any individual striving to develop their print career.
One thing, however, will never change and that is the fact that winning a PrintWeek Award isn’t easy – it’s not meant to be; it’s the highest accolade in UK print after all. But there are some simple steps you can take to give yourself the best possible chance.
Firstly, you need to enter. Obvious, I know, but you’d be surprised at the number of printers who like to complain that they 'never win', but at the same time never enter.
Secondly, you need to ensure that you send us only the very best examples of your work. There’s nothing worse for a judge than seeing a beautiful brochure or book blighted by a hickey.
Remember, you will judged on a body of work, not just a single piece of print. This is one of the things that makes the PrintWeek Awards such a challenging competition and a well-respected accolade and you should aim to demonstrate your prowess in as wide a variety of skills as possible.
Thirdly, read the rules carefully and make sure that you have submitted all the relevant information. You don’t want to be eliminated from the competition on a technicality. Remember, if we don’t have enough information to go on, you won’t make it to the shortlist.
Finally, remember who the judges are – your clients. We assemble an august line-up of big-name print buyers for our Quality Awards, covering all of the major print disciplines and this is your chance to sell to them. Make sure your supporting citations explain exactly what makes you and the work you do so special.
Once you’ve done all this, you can sit back with confidence and wait for the shortlist in September. And you might want to start thinking about that outfit for the big night in October, just in case…
Good luck!
Darryl Danielli
Editor, PrintWeek
