61 winners

Printing Charity gives Lordly welcome to Rising Stars

05 July 2024

Industry bodies

The 2024 winners secured grants totalling £84,000

The Printing Charity celebrated the industry's brightest prospects yesterday (4 July) at the House of Lords.

Celebrating the 61 winners of the charity's Rising Star awards – the awards saw young people across the profession issued grants of up to £1,500 each for training and development to help further their careers.

Drawn from more than 50 diverse job roles across print, paper, packaging, graphics and publishing, this year's winners were testament to the fantastic variety of opportunity in the industry, according to Neil Lovell, The Printing Charity's CEO.

He told Printweek: "It feels great today. We have more winners this year than last year – we're around double the numbers this year.

"Every year, we aim to encourage more people to apply, and it's working. It means all the support that we get from across the industry is really working, it's really great to see.

"Ambitious young people are there – and these awards help us identify them, and businesses are trying to encourage more people from diverse backgrounds to join, with a wide spread of roles. It's not just about production apprenticeships – there are marketing, sales, data analytics roles –today's young people are inspired by jobs across the sector, so we need to harness that positivity and shout about it."

Baroness Nikki Morgan, The Printing Charity's 2024 president, opened the event.

"I'm very pleased to be part of this year's awards," she said.

"There is great potential for a successful lifetime career in print; Britain is the fifth largest producer of printed products in the world, and the second largest in Europe – in fact, according to the BPIF, there are more printing companies in the UK than McDonald's [restaurants] in Western Europe.

"The industry is dynamic; it's continued to evolve and change. And the fact that more than 50 very different job roles are held by our constellation of Rising Stars emphasises this."

Isabel Shanahan, Mac operator at Imageco, was one of the awardees: "Honestly, at first I was a bit scared to come to the event – I felt so honoured to have my hard work recognised, and it's brilliant to be able to use the grant to progress my career."

Shanahan will be taking part in a five-day graphic design course and a one-day course in exhibition design and management.

"For me, learning is so important – I'd love to make it to a manager role, and I'd love to be able to benefit Imageco with what I learn. I genuinely think print has endless opportunities – there are so many different roles, but people don't even notice how much is printed when you walk down the street. I just find it such an inspiring, creative industry."

The event, falling on the evening of the UK general election, was held amid an air of excitement in Westminster, with TV crews setting up their gear across from the Lords' in preparation for the 10pm return to election coverage.

"We didn't know, when we booked the date, it would be election day," laughed Lovell.

"It's certainly brought a slightly different edge to the location!"

Morgan, who herself had long experience with electoral politics, likewise joked about the occasion.

"Of course, you chose a really quiet day, with nothing going on at all," she deadpanned.

"I suspect that some of you have been involved in printing for the election – all parties and none. Just talking to a former colleague the other day, he said that in his constituency alone, 50,000 pieces of literature had been delivered since the end of May: so when the new government is driving for growth, I'm hoping they don't have to keep calling elections in order to drive that growth!"

2024 RISING STARS WINNERS

CORE SKILLS

Alberto Alfaro Lopez continuous improvement engineer, Summit Creative
Thomas Barrie Pre-press apprentice, Authentix Security Print Solutions
Cayla Blandin de Chalain reprographics assistant, Amberley Labels
Benjamin Bowden Number two printer, Reach Printing Services
Oliver Gilligan client services account manager, Propack Direct Mail
Daniel Greyson technical coordinator, Roberts Mart & Co
Chloe Johnson senior commissioning editor, Liverpool University Press
Isabel Shanahan Mac operator, Imageco
Ben Stewardson graphic designer, Allen Signs
Ella Tomkins design manager, Hachette Children’s Group
María Victoria Velasco Sánchez project coordinator, Imagine Learning Studios UK
Kyle Walker junior account manager, Data Image Group
Kyle Wright Level 3 Signage Technician, Signs Express

LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT

Richard Amos account & production manager, Precision Proco Group
Eden Blankley account manager, Qualvis Print & Packaging
Alexia Bush client relationship manager, Citipost Mail
Giulia Caparrelli production controller, Bonnier Books
Carl Hester security officer, Reach Printing Services
Sophie Keech business development manager, All Vision
Tori Kendrick production manager, Signs Express
Connor Lonsdale commercial estimator, Coveris UK Paper
Ronan McKechnie deputy shift operations manager, CPI UK
Jake Raynor number one printer, Roberts Mart & Co
Emma Reynolds customer services coordinator, Harkwell Labels
Peter Scott maintenance technician, Reach Printing Services
Lori-May Straw service delivery supervisor, Citipost Mail
Jessica Wallace head of client services, Citipost Mail
Adam Whiting Level 2 Print Operative, Offset Print and Packaging

PERSONAL SKILLS & DEVELOPMENT

Melissa Clay reprographics operator, McLaren Packaging/Compack
Sonja Burniston print maker and workshop facilitator, Blue Roll Press
Jack Boswell technical consultant, Paragon Customer Communications
Gabriel Connor lithographic print apprentice, Westrock
Simone dos Santos inside sales consultant, Cengage
Natassja Drobinski estimator and marketing support, The University of Sheffield
Ella Drayton bench hand team leader, Precision Proco Group
Jacob Morton shift engineer, Roberts Mart & Co
Diyora Shadijanova freelance writer and journalist, self-employed
Abigail Somers assistant editor, Bloomsbury Publishing
Chace Vaughan manufacturing and number two print technician, Roberts Mart & Co
Carys Vickers marketing and communications officer, New Writing North
Cherrelle Wright head of service delivery, Citipost Mail
Bobby Yaman stock coordinator, Reach Printing Services
Mohammad Abdul Zameer Pasha production analyst, Transcend Packaging