New Zealand’s prestigious Pride In Print Awards is set to host its biggest Rotorua event to date, with an estimated 800 people due to pay tribute to the printing industry’s finest at the Sportsdrome on May 20. Having hosted the previous two Rotorua Awards’ evenings at the Convention Centre, this year’s event had to be moved to the larger Sportsdrome facility to cater for the growth in interest, says Pride In Print Awards Manager Sue Archibald.
“This is our 12th annual Awards’ evening and in the last three years in particular there has been a big increase in attendance -- it is certainly gaining momentum,” says Ms Archibald.
“The Awards’ programme is increasing and we are finding companies that haven’t necessarily entered before are coming along to see what it is all about and what their competition is doing.
“I think this is also proving the popularity of some of the changes we have made to the programme -- such as streamlining the entries into their specific print categories. This means there are now 10 category winners, from which one will become the overall Supreme Award Winner for 2005.
“Consequently, people in the different printing fields are being given an opportunity to come and see if their work is as good. They will often say ‘hey, we can do that’ and then they will start entering.”
The Awards’ evening entertainment is being provided by Christchurch’s 1960s-style retro duo “Vague As Love Machine”. Having performed as MC for the first three Awards’ events, media celebrity Jim Hopkins is also to return to host the evening.
As well as being hugely beneficial to the industry itself, Ms Archibald says the printing industry’s equivalent of the Air New Zealand Wine Awards will also benefit Rotorua business as a whole.
“We are still taking bookings as we speak and we have already booked out the Rydges and Grand Tiara hotels and are now moving onto the Novotel. The hotels and the local eateries benefit on the Friday and even the next day, as many people take the Awards as an opportunity to have a weekend away.
“While Rotorua has a few local printers, this is probably the biggest Awards’ event in terms of the number of printing people travelling.”
