Sixty-one Rising Stars in the print and publishing industries received their awards at the House of Lords last week through the increasingly influential programme organised by the Printing Charity.
Not all of the award winners were able to be present on the day, but the the majority were and received their certificates and cheques from Baroness Morgan of Cotes before she spent the rest of the night commenting on the results of the General Election in the country’s radio and television studios.
The cheques, amounting to almost £84,000, will pay for different types of training, from core skills, personal development, professional qualifications or leadership and management skills. The winners were selected from written submissions followed by interviews in front of the judging panel. In all there were 19 judges drawn from different areas of expertise from across the industry.
Their diversity was reflected in the job functions and training that the candidates intend to pursue. Printing Charity CEO Neil Lovell welcomed this, showing how the awards are constantly developing to reflect the changing nature of the printing industry. The awards began as a suggestion by one-time Printing World editor Terry Ulrick, rewarding just a handful of youngsters, and grew exponentially, until hit by Covid.
“We often don’t realise the variety of roles that the sector supports,” says Lovell, listing jobs in health and safety, HR, production, engineering, sales, marketing and communications. “We hope the winners will shout about what they have done and that others will consider the sector as a potentially brilliant career.”
In all more than 50 job roles were reflected in the 61 awards made. “The Rising Star Awards act as a bellwether for the industry, with the courses applied for often indicating print’s direction of travel, with ambitious, committed emerging talent looking to develop the skillsets they know will help them grow in their careers,” explains Lovell.
“This year we are delighted to fund a huge range of courses, including training to understand AI, environmental management, public speaking, negotiation, women in leadership, investigative journalist, maths and personality profile training. “These courses may be diverse, but they clearly indicate what our winners have in common: the drive to build their skills and capabilities to equip themselves well for the industry and the workplace of the future. The future is clearly bright.”
It is also evenly divided across the sexes. Of the 61 winners, 33 were female and 28 male. The majority of the winners (38) are working within print companies, 13 are working for publishers, seven for suppliers and three in other related businesses.
